The development of religious liberty in Connecticut

iiil

I

* JAN 35

v^O

BR 555 .C8 Gl 1905
Greene, M. Louise
The development of religious^
liberty in Connecticut

THE DEVELOPMENT OF

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

IN

CONNECTICUT

THE DEVELOPMENT OF

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

IN CONNECTICUT

BY

M. LOUISE GREENE, PhD.

BOSTON AND NEW YORK

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
($foe fiitoei#ibe $reg£, Cambrifcae

1905

COPYRIGHT I905 BY M. LOUISE GREENE
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Published November iqoj

PREFACE

The following monograph is the outgrowth of
three earlier and shorter essays. The first,
"Church and State in Connecticut to 1818,"
was presented to Yale University as a doctor's
thesis. The second, a briefer and more popularly
written article, won the Straus prize offered in
1896 through Brown University by the Hon.
Oscar S. Straus. The third, a paper containing
additional matter, was so far approved by the
American Historical Association as to receive
honorable mention in the Justin Winsor prize
competition of 1901.

With such encouragement, it seemed as if the
history of the development of religious liberty in
Connecticut might serve a larger purpose than
that of satisfying personal interest alone. In
Connecticut such development was not marked,
as so often elsewhere, by wild disorder, outra-
geous oppression, tyranny of classes, civil war,
or by any great retrograde movement. Connect-
icut was more modern in her progress towards
such liberty, and her contribution to advancing
civilization was a pattern of stability, of reason-

vi PREFACE

ableness in government, and of a slow broadening
out of the conception of liberty, as she gradually
softened down her restrictions upon religious and
personal freedom.

And yet, Connecticut is recalled as a part of
that New England where those not Congrega-
tionalists, the unorthodox or radical thinkers,
found early and late an uncomfortable atmos-
phere and restricted liberties. By a study of her
past, I have hoped to contribute to a fairer judg-
ment of the men and measures of colonial times,
and to a correct estimate of those essentials in
religion and morals which endure from age to
age, and which alone, it would seem, must consti-
tute the basis of that " ultimate union of Chris-
tendom " toward which so many confidently look.
The past should teach the present, and one gen-
eration, from dwelling upon the transient beliefs
and opinions of a preceding, may better judge
what are the non-essentials of its own.

Connecticut's individual experiment in the
union of Church and State is separable neither
from the New England setting of her earliest
days nor from the early years of that Congrega-
tionalism which the colony approved and es-
tablished. Hence, the opening chapters of her
story must treat of events both in old England
and in New. And because religious liberty was

PREFACE vii

finally won by a coalition of men like-minded in
their attitude towards rights of conscience and
in their desire for certain necessary changes and
reforms in government, the final chapters must
deal with social and political conditions more
than with those purely religious. It may be per-
tinent to remark that the passing of a hundred
years since the divorce of Church and State and
the reforms of a century ago have brought to the
commonwealth some of the same deplorable
political conditions that the men of the past,
the first Constitutional Reform Party, swept
away by the peaceful revolution of 1818.

For encouragement, assistance, and sugges-
tions, I am especially indebted to Professor
George B. Adams and Professor Williston
Walker of Yale University, to Professor Charles
M. Andrews of Bryn Mawr, to Dr. William G.
Andrews, rector of Christ Church, Guilford,
Conn., and to Professor Lucy M. Salmon of Vas-
sar College. Of numerous libraries, my largest
debt is to that of Yale University.

M. Louise Greene.

New Haven, October 20, 1905.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Evolution of Early Congregationalism 1

Preparation of the English nation for the two earliest forms of
Congregationalism, Brownism and Barrowism. — Rise of Sepa-
ratism and Puritanism. — Non-conformists during Queen Mary's
reign. — Revival of the Reformation movement under Queen
Elizabeth.— Development of Presbyterianism. — Three Cam-
bridge men, Robert Browne, Henry Greenwood, and Henry
Barrowe. — Brownism and Barrowism. — The Puritans under
Elizabeth, her early tolerance and later change of policy.—
Arrest of the Puritan movement by the clash between Episcopal
and Presbyterian forms of polity and the pretensions of the
latter. — James the First and his policy of conformity. — Exile
of the Gainsborough and Scrooby Separatists. — Separatist
writings. — General approachment of Puritans and Separatists
in their ideas of church polity. — The Scrooby exiles in Amer-
ica. — Sympathy of the Separatists of Plymouth Colony with
both the English Established Church and with English Pur-
itans.

II. The Transplanting of Congregationalism 41

English Puritans decide to colonize in America. — Friendly re-
lations between the settlements of Salem and Plymouth.—
Salem decides upon the character of her church organization. —
Arrival of Higginson and Skelton with recruits. — Formation of
the Salem church and election of officers. — Governor Bradford
and delegates from Plymouth present. — The beginning of Con-
gregational polity among the Puritans and the break with
English Episcopacy. — Formation and organization of the New
England churches.

III. Church and State in New England . 58

Church and State in the four New England colonies. — Early
theological dissensions and disturbances. — Colonial legislation
in behalf of religion. — Development of state authority at the
cost of the independence of the church. — Desire of Massachu-
setts for a platform of church discipline. — Practical working of
the theory of Church and State in Connecticut.

x CONTENTS

IV. The Cambridge Platform and the Half- Way

Covenant 76

Necessity of a church platform to resist innovations, to answer
English criticism, and to meet changing conditions of colonial
life. — Summary of the Cambridge Platform. — Of the history of
Congregationalism to the year 1648. — Attempt to discipline the
Hartford, Conn., church according to the Platform. — Spread of
its schism. —Petition to the Connecticut General Court for
some method of relief.— The Ministerial Convention or " Synod "
of 1657. — Its Half- Way Covenant. — Attitude of the Connecticut
churches towards the measure. — Pifcdn's petition to the Gen-
eral Court of Connecticut for broader church privileges. — The
Court's favorable reply.— Renewed outbreak of schism in the
Hartford and other churches. — Failure in the calling of a
synod of New England churches. — The Connecticut Court es-
tablishes the Congregational Church. — Connecticut's first tol-
eration act. — Settlement of the Hartford dispute. — The new
order and its important modifications of ecclesiastical polity.

V. A Period of Transition 121

Drift from religious to secular, and from intercolonial to indi-
vidual interests. — Reforming Synod of 1680. — Religious life in
the last quarter of the seventeenth century. — The " Proposals
of 1705 " in Massachusetts.— Introduction in Connecticut of the
Saybrook System of Consociated Church government.

VI. The Saybrook Platform .... 138

The Confession of Faith.— Heads of Agreement. — Fifteen
Articles. — Attitude of the churches towards the Platform.—
Formation of Consociations.— The " Proviso " in the act of es-
tablishment. — Neglect to read the proviso to the Norwich
church. — Contention arising. — The Norwich church as an ex-
ample of the difficulty of collecting church rates.

VII. The Saybrook Platform and the Toleration

Act 153

Toleration in the " Proviso " of the act establishing the Say-
brook Platform. — Reasons for passing the Toleration Act
of 1708. — Baptist dissenters. — Rogerine-Baptists, Rogerine-
Quakers or Rogerines, and their persecution. — Attitude toward
the Society of Friends or Quakers. — Toward the Church of
England men or Episcopalians. — Political events parallel in
time with the dissenters' attempts to secure exemption from the
support of the Connecticut Establishment. — General ineffec-
tiveness of the Toleration Act.

VIII. The First Victory for Dissent . . 191
General dissatisfaction with the Toleration Act. — Episcopa-
lians resent petty persecution. — Their desire for an American

CONTENTS xi

episcopate. — Conversion of Cutler, Rector of Yale College, and
others. — Bishop Gibson's correspondence with Governor Tal-
cott. — Petition of the Fairfield churchmen. — Law of 1727 ex-
empting Churchmen. — Persecution growing out of neglect to
enforce the law. — Futile efforts of the Rogerines to obtain ex-
emption. — Charges against the Colony of Connecticut. — The
Winthrop case. — Quakers attempt to secure exemption from
ecclesiastical rates. — Exemption granted to Quakers and
Baptists. — Relative position of the dissenting and established
churches in Connecticut.

IX. "The Great Awakening" . . . .220

Minor revivals in Connecticut before 1740. — Low tone of moral
and religious life.— Jonathan Edwards's sermons at North-
ampton. — Revival of religious interest and its spread among
the people. — The Rev. George Whitefield. — The Great Awak-
ening. — Its immediate results.

X. The Great Schism 233

The Separatist churches. — Old Lights and New. — Opposition
to the revival movement. — Severe colony laws of 1742-43 —
Illustrations of oppression of reformed churches, as the North
Church of New Haven, the Separatist Church of Canterbury,
and that of Enfield. — Persecution of individuals, as of Rev.
Samuel Finlay, James Davenport, John Owen, and Benjamin
Pomeroy. — Persecution of Moravian missionaries. — The col-
ony law of 1746, " Concerning who shall vote in Society meeting."

— Change in public opinion. — Summary of the influence of the
Great Awakening and of the great schism.

XI. The Abrogation of the Saybrook Platform 273

Revision of the laws of 1750. — Attitude of the colonial authori-
ties toward Baptists and Separatists. — Influence on colonial
legislation of the English Committee of Dissenters. — Formation
of the Church of Yale College. — Separatist and Baptist writers
in favor of toleration. — Frothingham's " Articles of Faith and
Practice." — Solomon Paine's " Letter." — John Bolles's "To
Worship God in Spirit and in Truth." — Israel Holly's " A
Word in Zion's Behalf." — Frothingham's " Key to Unlock the
Door." — Joseph Brown's " Letter to Infant Baptizers." —
The importance of the colonial newspaper. — Influence of Eng-
lish non-conformity upon the religious thought of New England.

— The Edwardean School. — Hopkinsinianism and the New
Divinity. — The clergy and the people. — Controversy over the
renewed proposal for an American episcopate. — Movement for
consolidation among all religious bodies. — Influences promot-
ing nationalism and, indirectly, religious toleration. — Connect-
icut at the threshold of the Revolution. — Connecticut clergymen
as advocates of civil liberty. — Greater toleration in religion

xii CONTENTS

granted by the laws of 1770. — Development of the idea of de-
mocracy in Church and State. — Exemption of Separatists by the
revision of the laws in 1784. — Virtual abrogation of the Say-
brook Platform. — Status of Dissenters.

XII. Connecticut at the Close of the Revolu-

tion 342

Expansion of towns. — Revival of commerce and industries. —
Schools and literature. — Newspapers. — Rise of the Anti-
Federal party. — Baptist, Methodist, and Separatist dissatisfac-
tion. — Growth of a broader conception of toleration within the
Consociated churches.

XIII. Certificate Laws and Western Land

Bills 368

Opposition to the Establishment from dissenters, Anti-Federal-
ists, and the dissatisfied within the Federal ranks. — Certificate
law of 1791 to allay dissatisfaction. — Its opposite effect. —A
second Certificate law to replace the former. — Antagonism
created by legislation in favor of Yale College. — Storm of pro-
test against the Western Land bills of 1792-93. — Congregational
missions in Western territory. — Baptist opposition to legislative
measures. — The revised Western Land bill as a basis for Con-
necticut's public school fund. — Result of the opposition roused
by the Certificate laws and Western Land bills.

XIV. The Development of Political Parties in

Connecticut 393

Government according to the charter of 1G62. — Party tilt over
town representation. — Anti-Federal grievances against the
Council or Senate, the Judiciary, and other defective parts of
the machinery of government. — Constitutional questions. —
Rise of the Democratic-Republican party. — Influence of the
French Revolution. — The Federal members of the Establish-
ment or " Standing Order," the champions of religious and
political stability. — President Dwight, the leader of the Stand-
ing Order. — Leaders of the Democratic-Republicans. — Politi-
cal campaigns of l 804-1800. — Sympathy for the defeated Repub-
licans. — Politics at the close of the War of 1812.

XV. Disestablishment 445

Waning of the power of the Federal party in Connecticut. —
Opposition to the Republican administration during the War
of 1812. — Participation In the Hartford Convention. — Economic
benefits of the war. — Attitude of the New England clergy to-
ward the war. — The Toleration party of 1816. — Act for the
Support of Literature and Religion. — Opposition. — Toleration

CONTENTS xiii

and Reform Ticket of 1817.— New Certificate Law. — Constitu-
tion and Reform Ticket of 1818. — Its victory. — The Constitu-
tional Convention. — New Constitution of 1818. — Separation of
Church and State.

APPENDIX

Notes 497

Bibliography 514

INDEX 545

THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS
LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT

CHAPTER I

THE EVOLUTION OF EARLY CONGREGA-
TIONALISM

The stone which the builders rejected is become the head
of the corner. — Psalm cxviii, 22.

The colonists of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Con-
necticut, and New Haven were grounded in the
system which became known as Congregational,
and later as Congregationalism. At the outset
they differed not at all in creed, and only in some
respects in polity, from the great Puritan body
in England, out of which they largely came.a

a " Our pious Ancestors transported themselves with regard
unto Church Order and Discipline, not with respect to the Fun-
damentals in Doctrine." — Richard Mather, Attestation to the
Ratio Disciplina, p. 10.

" The issue on which the Pilgrims and Puritans alike left
sweet fields and comfortable homes and settled ways of the
land of their birth for this raw wilderness, was primarily an
issue of politics rather than of the substance of religious life."
— G. L. Walker, Some Aspects of Religious Life in New Eng'
land, p. 19.

2 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

For more than forty years before their migra-
tion to New England there had been in old Eng-
land two clearly developed forms of Congrega-
tionalism, Brownism and Barrowism. The term
Congregationalism, with its allied forms Congre-
gational and Congregationalist, would not then
have been employed. They did not come into
general use until the latter half of the seventeenth
century, and were at first limited in usage to de-
fining or referring to the modified church system
of New England. The term " Independent " was
preferred to designate the somewhat similar polity
among the nonconformist churches in old Eng-
land.0 Brownism and Barrowism are both in-
cluded in Dr. Dexter's comprehensive definition
of Congregationalism, using the term " to desig-
nate that system of thought, faith, and practice,
which starting with the dictum that the condi-
tions of church life are revealed in the Bible, and
are thence to be evolved by reverent common-
sense, assisted but never controlled by all other

a " After the 17th century ' Independent ' was chiefly used
in England, while ' Congregational ' was decidedly preferred
in New England, where the ' consociation ' of the churches
formed a more important feature of the system." " Congre-
gational" first appeared in manuscript in 1639, in print in
1042. " Congregationalist " appeared in 1692, and " Congrega-
tionalism," not until 1716. — J. Murray, A New English Diet,
on Hist. Principles.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 3

sources of knowledge ; interprets that book as
teaching the reality and independent competency
of the local church, and the duty of fraternity
and co-working between such churches ; from
these two truths symmetrically developing its en-
tire system of principles, privileges, and obliga-
tions." 1 The " independent competency of the
local church " is directly opposed to any system
of episcopal government within the church, and
is diametrically opposed to any control by king,
prince, or civil government. Yet this was one of
the pivotal dogmas of Browne and of the later
Separatists ; this, a fundamental doctrine which
Barrowe strove to incorporate into a new church
system, but into one having sufficient control
over its local units to make it acceptable to a
people who were accustomed to the autonomy
and stability of a church both episcopal and
national in character.

In order to appreciate the changes in church
polity and in the religious temper of the people
for which Browne and Barrowe labored, one
must survey the field in which they worked and

1. See note 1, p. 2 of Notes. Notes are divided into explana-
tory and authoritative. The latter class, giving for the most part
authorities only, have heen grouped at the end of the volume,
and throughout the text are indicated by Arabic numerals. The
notes explanatory or expository in character are found as foot-
notes, and referred to in the text by letters of the alphabet.

4 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

note sucli preparation as it had received before
their advent. It is to be recalled that Henry
VIII substituted for submission to the Pope
submission to himself as head of a church essen-
tially Romish in ritual, teaching, and authority
over his subjects. The religious reformation, as
such, came later and by slow evolution through
the gradual awakening of the moral and spiritual
perceptions of the masses. It came very slowly
notwithstanding the fact that the first definite
and systematic opposition to the abuses and as-
sumptions of the clergy had arisen long before
Henry's reign. As early as 1382, the itinerant
preachers, sent out by Wyckliff, were complained
of by the clergy and magistrates as teachers of
insubordinate and dangerous doctrines. Thence-
forward, outcroppings of dissatisfaction with the
clergy appear from time to time both in Eng-
lish life and literature. This dissatisfaction was
silenced by various acts of Parliament which
were passed to enforce conformity and to punish
heresy. Their character and intent were the
same whether the head of the church wore the
papal tiara or the English crown. Two hun-
dred years after Wyckliff, in 1582, laws were
still fulminated against " divers false and per-
verse people of certain new sects," for Protestant
England would support but one form of religion

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 5

as the moral prop of the state. She regarded all
innovations as questionable, or wholly evil, and
their authors as dangerous men. Chief among the
latter was Robert Browne. But before Browne's
advent and in the days of Henry the Eighth, there
had been a large, respectable, and steadily in-
creasing party whose desire was to remain within
the English church, but to purify it from super-
stitious rites and practices, such as penances, pil-
grimages, forced oblations, and votive offerings.
They wished also to free the ritual from many
customs inherited from the days of Rome's su-
premacy. It was in this party that the leaven of
Protestantism had been working. Luther and
Henry, be it remembered, had died within a
year of each other. Under the feeble rule of Ed-
ward the Sixth, the English reform movement
gained rapidly, and, in 1550, upon the refusal of
Bishop Hooper to be consecrated in the usual
Romish vestments, it began to crystallize in two
forms, Separatism and Puritanism.3 In spite of
much opposition, the teachings of Luther, Cal-
vin, and other Continental reformers took root in
England, and interested men of widely different

a Separatism is commonly said to date from the year 1554.
About 1564, the other branch of the reform party was nick-
named " Puritan." — G. L. Walker, History of the First Church
in Hartford, p. 6.

6 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

classes. They stirred to new activity the scat-
tered and persecuted groups, that, from time to
time, had met in secret in London and elsewhere
to read the Scriptures and to worship with their
elected leaders in some simpler form of service
than that prescribed by law. Under Mary's per-
secution, these Separatists increased, and with
other Protestants swelled the roll of martyrs. In
her severity, the Queen also drove into exile
many able and learned men, who sought shelter
in Geneva, Zurich, Basle, and Frankfort, where
they were hospitably entertained. Upon their re-
turn, there was a marked increase in the Calvin-
istic tone both of preaching and teaching in the
English church and in the university lecture
rooms, especially those of Cambridge. Among
the most influential teachers was Thomas Cart-
wright,0 in 1560-1562, Lady Margaret Pro-
fessor of Divinity at Cambridge. While having
no sympathy with the nonconformist or Separatist
of his day, Cartwright accepted the polity and
creed of Calvin in its severer form. He became

a Another noted preacher who left an indelible impression
upon several early New England ministers was William Per-
kins, who was in discourse " strenuous, searching, and ultra-
Calvinistic." He was a Cambridge man, filling the positions of
Professor of Divinity, Master of Trinity, and Chancellor of the
University. — G. L. Walker, Some Aspects of the Religious Life
in Neiv England, p. 14.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 7

junior-dean of St. John's, major-fellow of Trinity,
and a member of the governing-board. In 1565
he went to Ireland to escape the heated contro-
versy of the period which centred in the " Ves-
tiarian" movement. He was recalled. in 1569 to
his former professorship, and in September, 1571,
was forced out of it because, when controversy
changed from vestments to polity, he took ex-
treme views of church discipline and repudiated
episcopal government.0 While Cartwright was
very pronounced in his views, his desire at first
was that the changes in church polity should be
brought about by the united action of the Crown
and Parliament. Such had been the method of
introducing changes under the three sovereigns,
Henry, Mary, and Elizabeth. With this brief
summary of the reform movements among the

° Cartwright in 1574, the year of its publication, translated
Travers's Ecclesiasticae Disciplinae et Anglicanae Ecclesiae ab
ilia Aberrationis, plena e verbo Dei fr dilucida Explication and
made it the basis of a practical attempt to introduce the Pres-
byterian system into England. More than five hundred of the
clergy seconded his attempt, subscribing to the principles that
(1) there can be only one right form of church government,
but one church order and one form of church, namely, that
described in the Scriptures ; (2) that every local church should
have a presbytery of elders to direct its affairs ; and (3) that
every church should obey the combined opinion of all the
churches in fellowship with it. In this declaration lay a blow
at the Queen's supremacy. — H. M. Dexter, Congregationalism
as seen in Lit. p. 55.

8 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

masses and in the universities covering the years
until Cartwright, through the influence of the
ritualistic church party, was expelled from Cam-
bridge, and Kobert Browne, as a student there,
came under the strong Puritan influence of the
university, we pass to a consideration of Brown-
ism.

Kobert Browne was graduated from Cam-
bridge in 1572, the year after Cartwright' s ex-
pulsion. The next three years he taught in
London and " wholly bent himself to search and
find out the matters of the church : as to how it
was guided and ordered, and what abuses there
were in the ecclesiastical government then used." 2
When the plague broke out in London, Browne
went to Cambridge. There, he refused to accept
the bishop's license to preach, though urged to do
so, because he had come to consider it as con-
trary to the authority of the Scriptures. Never-
theless, he continued preaching until he was
silenced by the prelate. Browne then went to
Norwich, preaching there and at Bury St. Ed-
munds, both of which had been gathering-places
for the Separatists. At Norwich, he organized a
church. Writing of Browne's labors there in
1580 and 1581, Dr. Dexter says: " Here, fol-
lowing the track which he had been long elabo-
rating, he thoroughly discovered and restated

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 9

the original Congregational way in all its sim-
plicity and symmetry. And here, by his prompt-
ing and under his guidance, was formed the first
church in modern days of which I have any
knowledge, which was intelligently and one might
say philosophically Congregational in its platform
and processes ; he becoming its pastor." 3 Per-
secution followed Browne to Norwich, and in
order to escape it he, in 1581, migrated with his
church to Middelburg, in Zealand. There, for
two years, he devoted himself to authorship,
wherein he set forth his teachings. His books
and pamphlets, which had been proscribed in
England, were printed in Middelburg and se-
cretly distributed by his friends and followers at
home. But Browne's temperament was not of the
kind to hold and mould men together, while his
doctrine of equality in church government was
too strong food for people who, for generations,
had been subservient to a system that demanded
only their obedience. His church soon disinte-
grated. With but a remnant of his following, he
returned in 1583 by way of Scotland into Eng-
land, finding everywhere the strong hand of the
government stretched out in persecution. Three
years later, after having been imprisoned in noi-
some cells some thirty times within six years,
utterly broken in health, if not weakened also in

10 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

mind, and never feeling safe from arrest while
in his own land, Browne finally sought pardon
for his offensive teachings and, obtaining it, re-
entered the English communion. y hough he was
given a small parish, he was looked upon as a
renegade, and died in poverty about 1631, at
an extreme old age. He died while the Pil-
grim Separatists were still a struggling colony at
Plymouth, repudiating the name of Brownists ;
before the colonial churches had embodied in their
system most of the fundamentals of his ; and long
before the value of his teachings as to democracy,
whether in the church or by extension in the state,
had dawned upon mankind.

The connecting link between Brownism and
Barrowism, whose similarities and dissimilarities
we shall consider together, or rather the connect-
ing link between Robert Browne and Henry
Barrowe, was another Cambridge student, John
Greenwood. He was graduated in 1581, the year
that Browne removed to Middelburg. Greenwood
had become so enamored with Separatist doc-
trines, that within five years of his graduation he
was deprived of his benefice, in 1586, and sent
to prison. While there, he was visited by his
friend, Henry Barrowe, a young London lawj^er,
who, through the chance words of a London
preacher, had been converted from a wild, gay

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 11

life to one devout and godly. During a visit to
Greenwood, Barrowe was arrested and sent to
Lambeth Palace for examination. Upon refusing
to take the oath required by the bishop, Barrowe
was remanded to prison to await further exam-
ination. Later, he damaged himself and his cause
by an unnecessarily bitter denunciation of his
enemies and by a too dogmatic assertion of his
own principles. Accordingly, he was sent back
to prison, where, together with Greenwood, he
awaited trial until March, 1593. Then, upon the
distorted testimony of their writings, both men
were sentenced as seditious fellows, worthy of
death. Though twice reprieved at the seemingly
last hour, they were hanged together on April 6,
1593.

Both Greenwood and Barrowe frequently as-
serted that they never had anything to do with
Browne.4 Yet it is probable that it was Browne's
influence which turned Greenwood's puritanical
convictions to Separatist principles. Barrowe had
been graduated from Clare Hall, Cambridge, in
1569-70; Browne, from Corpus Christi in 1572.
The two men, so different in character, probably
did not meet in university days, and certainly
not later in London, where one went to a life of
pleasure and the other to teaching and to the
study of the Scriptures. Greenwood, however,

12 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

had entered Cambridge in 1577-78, and left it
in 1581. Thus he was in college during the two
years that Browne was preaching in and near
Cambridge. It is safe to assume that the young
scholar, soon to become a licensed preacher, and
overflowing with the Puritan zeal of his college,
might be drawn either through curiosity or ad-
miration to hear the erratic and almost fanatic
preacher. Later, when Browne's writings were
being secretly distributed in England, both
Barrowe and Greenwood had come in contact
with the London congregations to whom Browne
had preached. The fact that many men in Eng-
land were thinking along the same lines as the
Separatists ; that Browne had recanted just as
Barrowe and Greenwood were thrust into prison ;
and that they both disapproved in some measure
of Browne's teachings, might account for a denial
of discipleship. Browne's influence might even
have been unrecognized by the men themselves.
Be that as it may, during their long imprison-
ment, both Barrowe and Greenwood, in their
teachings, in their public conferences, and in their
writings strove to outline a system of church gov-
ernment and discipline, which was very similar to
and yet essentially different from Browne's.

Thus it happened that in the last decade of the
sixteenth century two forms of Congregational-

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 13

ism had developed, Brownism and Barrowism.
Neither Browne nor Barrowe felt any need, as did
their later followers, to demonstrate their doc-
trinal soundness, because in all matters of creed
they " were in full doctrinal sympathy with the
predominantly Calvinistic views of the English
Established Church from which they had come
out."

" Browne, first of all English writers, set forth
the Anabaptist doctrine that the civil ruler had
no control over the spiritual affairs of the church
and that State and Church were separate realms."5
In the beginning, Browne's foremost wish was not
to establish a new church system or polity, but to
encourage the spiritual life of the believer. To
this end he desired separation from the English
church, which, like all other state churches, in-
cluded all baptized persons, not excommunicate,
whether faithful or not to their baptismal or con-
firmation vows to lead godly lives.6 Moreover, as
Browne did not believe that the magistrates should
have power to coerce men's consciences, teaching,
as he did, that the mingling of church offices and
civil offices was anti-Christian,7 he was unwilling
to wait for a reformation to be brought about
by the changing laws of the state.8 He further
advocated such equality of power9 among the
members of the church that in its government a

14 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

democracy resulted, and this theory, pushed to a
logical conclusion, implied that a democratic form
of civil government was also the best.a Browne
roughly draughted a government for the church
with pastors, teachers, elders, deacons, and wid-
ows. He insisted, however, that these officers did
not stand between Christ and the ordinary be-
liever, "though they haue the grace and office of
teaching and guiding. . . . Because eurie one of
the church is made Kinge, and Priest and a
Prophet, under Christ, to vpholde and further
the kingdom of God."

Browne and Barrowe both made the Bible their
guide in all matters of church life. From its text
they deduced the definition of a true church as,
" A company of faithful people gathered by the

a " Browne's polity was essentially, though unintentionally,
democratic, and that gives it a closer resemblance in some fea-
tures to the purely democratic Congregationalism of the present
century, than to the more aristocratic, one might almost say
semi-Presbyterianized, Congregationalism of Barrowe and the
founders of New England. His picture of the covenant relation
of men in the church, under the immediate sovereignty of God,
he extended to the state ; and it led him as directly, and prob-
ably as unintentionally, to democracy in the one field as in the
other. His theory implied that all governors should ride by
the will of the governed, and made the basis of the state on its
human side essentially a compact." — W. Walker, Creeds and
Platforms, pp. 15, 16. See also H. M. Dexter, Congregationalism
as seen in Lit., pp. 96-107 ; 235-39 ; 351 ; R. Browne, Book
which Sheweth, Def., 51.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 15

Word unto Christ and submitting themselves in
all things ; " of a Christian, as one who had made
a " willing covenant with God, and thereby did
live a godly and Christian life." 10 This cove-
nanting together of Christians constituted a
church. From their interpretation of the New Tes-
tament, Browne and Barrowe held that this cov-
enanting included repentance for sin, a profession
of faith, and a promise of obedience. Moreover,
to their minds, primitive Christianity had insisted
upon a public, personal narration of each covenan-
ter's regenerative experience. From sacred writ
they derived their church organization also.11
Their pastors were for exhorting or " edifying by
all comfortable words and promises in the Scrip-
tures, to work in our hearts the estimate of our
duties with love and zeal thereunto." Their teach-
ers were for teaching or "delivering the grounds
of Religion and meaning of the Scriptures and
confirming the same." Both officers were to ad-
minister baptism and the Lord's supper, or " the
Seals of the Covenant." The elders included
both pastors and teachers and also " Ruling Eld-
ers," all of whom were for " oversight, counsel,
and redressing things amiss," but the ruling elders
were to give special attention to the public order
and government of the church . According to both
Browne and Barrowe, these officers were to be

1G THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

the mouthpiece of the church in the admission,
censure, dismissal, or readmission of members.
They were to prepare matters to be brought be-
fore the church for action. They were also to
adjust matters, when possible, so as to avoid
overburdening the church or its pastor and
teacher with trivial business. In matters spiritual,
they were to unite with the pastor and teacher
in keeping watch over the lives of the people, that
they be of good character and godly reputation.
Browne taught that the church had power
which it shared wdth its officers as fellow-Chris-
tians, but which lifted it above them and their
office. It lay with the church to elect them. It
lay with the church to censure them. Barrowe
also maintained that the church was " above its
institutions, above its officers," 12 and that every
officer was responsible to the church and liable
to its censure as well as indebted to it for his
election and office. But he further maintained
that the members of the church should render
meek and submissive, faithful and loving obedi-
ence to their chosen elders. Barrowe thus taught
that guidance in religious matters should be left
in the hands of those to whom by election it had
been delegated. The elders were to be men of
discernment, able to judge " between cause and
cause, plea and plea," to redress evil, and to see

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 17

that both the people and their officers a did their
full duty in accordance with the laws of God and
the ordinances of the church. Barrowe had seen
the confusion and disintegration of Browne's
church, and he planned by thus introducing the
Calvinistic theory of eldership to avoid the pit-
falls into which the Brownists had plunged while
practicing their new-found principle of religious
equality. Barrowe hoped by his system to secure
the independence of the local churches and also
to avoid the repellent attitude of a nation that
was as yet unprepared to welcome any trend to-
wards democracy. b Having devised this system

a Barrowe wrote, " Though there be communion in the
Church, yet is there no equality." This is in strong- contrast to
Browne's, " Every one of the church is made King- and Priest
and Prophet under Christ to uphold and further the kingdom
of God." Barrowe continues, " The Church of Christ is to
obey and submit unto her leaders. . . . The Church knoweth
how to give reverence unto her leaders." In his True Descrip-
tion there is a hazy attempt to define how far the membership
of the church may judge its elders. This authority of the
elders was defined more clearly and elaborated by Barrowe's
followers in their True Confession, published in Amsterdam
in 1596-98. — H. Barrowe, A True Description ; Discovery
of False Churches, p. 188 ; A Plain Refutation of Mr. Gifford,
p. 129 (ed. of 1605).

6 "Traces of this (Barrowe's) innovation on apostolic Con-
gregationalism have been aptly characterized as a Presbyterian
heart within a Congregational body, and are seen long after the
denomination grew to be a power in New England." — A. E.
Dunning, Congregationalists in America, p. 61.

18 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

of compromise, Barrowe made a futile attempt to
interest Cartwright, but the latter regarded the
reformer as too heretical. Yet Cartwrio-ht him-

o

self, tired of waiting for the better day when his
desired reforms should be brought about through
the operation of Parliamentary laws, was attempt-
ing in Warwickshire and Northamptonshire to
test his system of Presbyterianism.

To the list of church officers already enumer-
ated, both reformers added deacons and widows.
The deacons were to attend to the church finances
and all temporal cares, and, in their visiting of
the sick and afflicted, they were to be aided by
the widows. The latter office, however, soon fell
into disuse, for it was difficult to find women of
satisfactory character, attainments, and physical
ability, since, in order to avoid scandal or cen-
soriousness, those filling the office had to be of
advanced years."

With respect to the relation of the churches
among themselves, Browne and Barrowe each
insisted upon the integral independence and self-
governing powers of the local units. Both ap-
proved of the " sisterly advice " of neighboring
churches in matters of mutual interest. Both held
that in matters of great weight, synods, or coun-
cils of all the churches should be summoned ;

n Barrowe says, "over sixty."

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 19

that the delegates to such bodies should advise
and bring the wisdom of their united experience
to questions affecting the welfare of all the
churches, and also, when in consultation upon
serious cases, that any one church should lay-
before them. Browne insisted that delegates
to synods should be both ministerial and lay,
while Barrowe leaned to the conviction that
they should be chosen only from among the
church officers. Both reformers limited the power
of synods, maintaining that they should be con-
sultative and advisory only.13 Their decisions
were not to be binding upon the churches as were
those of the Presbyterian synods," whose author-
ity both reformers regarded as a violation of
Gospel rule. The church system, outlined by these
two men, became, in time, the organization of the
churches of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecti-
cut, and New Haven. The character of their
polity fluctuated, as we shall see, leaning some-
times more to Barrowism and sometimes, or in
some respects, emphasizing the greater democracy
which Browne taught. In England, and because
of the pressure of circumstances among English

a The first English Presbytery was organized in 1572.
Among- its organizers, there was the seeming determination
to treat the Episcopal system as a mere legal appendage. —
F. J. Powicke, Henry Barrowe, p. 139.

20 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

exiles and colonists, Barrowe's teachings at first
gained the stronger hold and kept it for many-
years. Moreover, as Barrowe's almost immediate
followers embraced them, there was no objection
to the customary union of church and state. And
furthermore, if only the state would uphold this
peculiar polity, it might even insist upon the pay-
ment of contributions, which both Browne and
Barrowe had distinctly stated were to be voluntary
and were to be the only support of their churches.
Though Barrowism was more welcomed, eventu-
ally— yet not until long after the colonial period
— Brownism triumphed, and it predominates in
the Congregationalism of to-day.

The immediate spread of Barrowism was due
to the poor Separatists of London. Doubtless
among them were many who in the preceding
years had listened to Browne and had begun to
look up to him as their Luther. While Barrowe
and Greenwood were in prison, many of these
Separatists had gone to hear them preach and
had studied their writings. During the autumn
of 1592, there had been some relaxation in the
severity exercised toward the prisoners, and
Greenwood was allowed occasionally to be out of
jail under bail. He associated himself with these
Separatists, who, according to Dr. Dexter, had
organized a church about five years before, and

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 21

who at once elected Greenwood to the office of
teacher. Dr. John Brown, writing later than Dr.
Dexter, claims this London church as the parent
of English Congregationalism. To make good
the claim, he traces the history of the church by
means of references in Bradford's History, Fox's
" Book of Martyrs," and in recently discovered
state papers to its existence as a Separate church
under Elizabeth, when, as early as 1571, its pas-
tor, Richard Fitz, had died in prison. Dr. Brown
believes he can still farther trace its origin to
Queen Mary's reign, when a Mr. Rough, its pas-
tor, suffered martyrdom, and one Cuthbert Symp-
son was deacon.14 After the death of Greenwood
and Barrowe, this London congregation was sore
pressed. Their pastor, Francis Johnson, havmg
been thrown into prison, they began to make
their way secretly to Amsterdam. There John-
son joined them in 1597, soon after his release.
To this London- Amsterdam church were gath-
ered Separatist exiles from all parts of England,
for converts were increasing," especially in the
rural districts of the north, notwithstanding the

a At the height of its prosperity this church contained about
three hundred communicants, with representatives from twenty-
nine English counties. Among them was one John Bolton, who
had been a member of Mr. Fitz's church in 1571. At the be-
ginning of James the First's reign, 1603, Separatist converts
numbered 20,000 souls in England.

22 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

fact that persecution followed hard upon conver-
sion.

The policy of Elizabeth during the earlier
years of her reign was one of forbearance towards
inoffensive Catholics and of toleration towards
all Protestants. Caring nothing for religion as
such, her aim was to secure peace and to increase
the stability of her realm. This she did by crush-
ing malcontent Catholics, by balancing the fac-
tions of Protestantism, and by holding in check
the extremists, whether High-Churchmen or the
ultra-Puritan followers of Cartwright. She had
forced on the contending factions a sort of armed
truce and silenced the violent antagonism of pul-
pit against pulpit by licensing preachers. The
Acts of Supremacy and of Uniformity placed all
ecclesiastical jurisdiction, as well as all legislative
power, in the hands of the state. They outlined
a system of church doctrine and discipline from
which no variation was legally permitted. Not-
withstanding the enforced outward conformity,
the Bible was left open to the masses to study,
and private discussion and polemic writing were
unrestrained. The main principles of the Refor-
mation were accepted, even while Elizabeth re-
sisted the sweeping reforms which the strong
Calvinistic faction of the Puritan party would
have made in the ceremonial of the English

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 23

church. This she did notwithstanding the fact
that about the time Thomas Cartwright, through
the influence of the ritualists under Whitdft,
had been driven from Cambridge, Parliament
had refused to bind the clergy to the Three Ar-
ticles on Supremacy, on the form of Church gov-
ernment, and on the power of the Church to ordain
rites and ceremonies. Parliament had even sup--

o

gested a reform of the liturgy by omitting from
it those ceremonies most obnoxious to the Puritan
party." That representative assembly had but
reflected the desire of all moderate statesmen, as
well as of the Puritans. But, in the twelve years
between Cartwright's dismissal from Cambridge
and Browne's preaching there without a license,
a great change took place, altering the sentiment
of the nation. All but extremists drew back when
Cartwright pushed his Presbyterian notions to
the point of asserting that the only power which
the state rightfully held over religion was to see.
that the decrees of the churches were executed

a " The wish for a reform in the Liturgy, the dislike of
superstitious usages, of the use of the surplice, the sign of the
cross in baptism, the gift of the ring in marriage, the posture
of kneeling at the Lord's Supper, was shared by a large num-
ber of the clergy and laity alike. At the opening of Elizabeth's
reign almost all the higher churchmen but Parker were op-
posed to them, and a motion for their abolition in Convocation
was lost but by a single vote." — J. R. Green, Short History of
the English People, p. 459.

24 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

and their contemners punished, or when this re-
former still further asserted that the power and
authority of the church was derived from the
Gospel and consequently was above Queen or
Parliament. Cartwright claimed for his church
an infallibility and control of its members far
above the claims of Rome, and, tired of waiting
for a purification of existing conditions by legis-
lative acts, he had, as has been said, boldly organ-
ized, in accordance with his system, the clergy of
Warwickshire and Northamptonshire. The local
churches were treated as self-governing units, but
were controlled by a series of authoritative Classes
and Synods. Having done this, Cartwright called
for the establishment of Presbyterianism as the
national church and for the vigorous suppression
of Episcopacy, Separatism, and all variations
from his standard. As he thus struck at the
national church, at the Queen's supremacy, and,
seemingly to many Englishmen, at the very roots
of civil government and security, there was a
sudden halt in the reform movement. The im-
petus which would have probably brought about
all the changes that the great body of Puritans
desired was arrested. Richard Hooker's " Eccle-
siastical Polity " swept the ground from under
Thomas Cartwright's " Admonition to Parlia-
ment." Hooker's broad and philosophic reasoning

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 25

showed that no one system of church-government
was immutable; that all were temporary; and that
not upon any man's interpretation of Scripture,
or upon that of any group of men alone, could
the diVine ordering of the world, of the church
or of the state, be based. Such order depended
upon moral relations, upon social and political in-
stitutions, and changed with times and nations.
The death of Mary Queen of Scots crushed
the Catholic party, and the defeat of the Armada
left Elizabeth free to turn her attention to the
phases of the Protestant movement in her own
realm. While Browne was preaching in Norwich,
the Queen raised Whitgift to the See of Canter-
bury. He was the bitter opponent of all noncon-
formity, and immediately the persecution both of
Separatists and of Puritans became severe. Eliza-
beth, sure at last of her throne and of her posi-
tion as head of the Protestant cause in Europe,
gave her minister a free hand. She demanded
rigid conformity, but wisely forbore to revive
many of the customs which the Puritans had suc-
ceeded in rendering obsolete. Noth withstanding
such modifications, the English liturgy had been
so slightly altered that, " Pius the Fifth did see
so little variation in it from the Latin service
that had been formerly used in that Kingdom
that he would have ratified it by his authority, if

26 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

the Queen would have so received it." a Eliza-
beth now forbade all preaching, teaching, and
catechising in private houses, and refused to re-
cognize lay or Presbyterian ordination. Minis-
ters who could no longer accept episcopal ordina-
tion, or subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles, or
approve the Book of Common Prayer and con-
form to its liturgy were silenced and deprived of
their salaries. In default of witnesses, charges
against them were proved by their own testimony
under oath, whereby they were made to incrim-
inate themselves. The censorship of the press was
made stringent, printing was restricted to Lon-
don and to the two universities, and all printers
had to be licensed. Furthermore, all publications,
even pamphlets, had to receive the approval of
the Primate or of the Bishop of London. In
addition, the Queen established the Ecclesiastical
Commission of forty-four members, which became
a permanent court where all authority virtually
centred in the hands of the archbishops. Eng-
lish law had not as yet defined the powers and
limitations of the Protestant clergy. Conse-
quently, this Commission assumed almost un-
limited powers and cared little for its own prece-
dents. Its very existence undid a large part of

a John Davenport, in his Answer to the Letter of Many Minis-
ters in Old Enylandy p. 3.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 27

the work of the Reformation, and the successive
Archbishops of Canterbury, Parker, Whitgift,
Bancroft, Abbott, and Laud, claimed greater and
more despotic authority than any papal primate
since the days of Augustine. The Commission
passed upon all opinions or acts which it held to
be contrary to the Acts of Supremacy and Uni-
formity. It altered or amended the Statutes of
Schools and Colleges ; it claimed the right of
deprivation of clergy and held them at its mercy ;
it passed from decisions upon heresy, schism, or
nonconformity to judgment and sentence upon
incest and similar crimes. It could fine and im-
prison at will, and employ any measures for
securing information or calling witnesses. The
result was that all nonconformists and all Puri-
tans drew closer together under trial. Another
result was that the Bible was studied more ear-
nestly in private, and that there was a public
eager to read the religious books and pamphlets
published abroad and cautiously circulated in
England. Though the Presbyterians were con-
fined to the nonconformist clergy and to a com-
paratively small number among them, they were
rising in importance, and were accorded sym-
pathetic recognition as a section of the Puri-
tan party. This party, as a whole, continued to
increase its membership. The Separatists also

28 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

increased, for, as of old, the blood of the martyrs
became the seed of the church.

The hope that times would mend when James
ascended the throne was soon abandoned. As
he had been trained in Scotch Presbyterianism,
the Presbyterians believed that he would grant
them some favor, while the Puritans looked for
some conciliatory measures. Eight hundred Puri-
tan ministers, a tenth of all the clergy, signed
the " Millenary Petition," asking that the prac-
tices which they most abhorred, such as the sign
of the cross in baptism, the use of the surplice,
the giving of the ring at marriage, and the kneel-
ing during the communion service, should be done
away with. The petition was not Presbyterian,
but was strictly Puritan in tone. It asked for no
change in the government or organization of the
church. It did ask for a reform in the ecclesi-
astical courts, and it demanded provision for the
training of godly ministers. James replied to the
petition by promising a conference of prelates
and of Puritan ministers to consider their de-
mands ; but at the conference it was found that
he had summoned it only to air the theological
knowledge upon which he so greatly prided him-
self. His answer to the petition was that he would
have "one doctrine, one religion, in substance
and in ceremony," and of the remonstrants he

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 29

added, "I will make them conform or I will
harry them out of the land." The harrying be-
gan. The recently organized Separatist church at
Gainsborough-on-Trent endured persecution for
four years, and then emigrated with its pastor,
John Smyth, M.A., of Christ's College, Cam-
bridge. It found refuge in Amsterdam by the
side of the London- Amsterdam church and its
pastor, Francis Johnson, who had been Smyth's
tutor in college days. The next year, after more
of the King's harrying, the future colonists of
Plymouth, the Separatist Church of Scrooby, an
offshoot of the Gainsborough church, attempted
to flee over seas to Holland. The magistrates
would not give them leave to go, and to emigrate
without permission had been counted a crime
since the reign of Richard II. Their first attempt
to leave the country was defeated and their lead-
ers imprisoned. During their second attempt,
after a large number of their men had reached
the ship with many of their household goods, and
while their wives and children were waiting to
embark, those on the beach were surprised and
arrested, and their goods confiscated. Public opin-
ion forbade sending helpless women and children
to prison for no other offense than agreeing with
and wishing to join their husbands and fathers.
Consequently the magistrates let their prisoners

30 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

go, but made no provision for them. Helpless
and destitute, they were taken in and cared for by
the people of the countryside, and sheltered until
their men returned. The latter had suffered ship-
wreck, because the Dutch captain had attempted
to sail away when he saw the approach of the
English officers. When the church had once more
raised sufficient funds for the emigration, the
magistrates gave them a contemptuous permission
to depart, "glad to be rid of them at any price."
So, in 1608, they also joined the English exiles
in Amsterdam. The rank injustice and cruelty
of their treatment, together with their patience
and forbearance under their sufferings, drew peo-
ple's attention to the character and worth of the
pious " pilgrims " and Separatists whom James
was constantly driving forth from England.

Meanwhile, both in England and on the con-
tinent, the Separatists held fast to the principles
of their leaders, of which the cardinal ones were
a church wherein membership was not by birth-
right, but by " conversion ; " over which magis-
trates or government should have no control ; in
which each congregation constituted an independ-
ent unit, coequal with all others ; and with
which the state should have nothing more to do
than to see that members respected the decrees
of the church and were obedient to its discipline.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 31

On the continent, the Separatists elaborated
these fundamentals and developed detailed and
systematic expression of them. Such were the
"True Description out of the Word of God of
the Visible Church " of the London- Amsterdam
church, put forth in 1589, and in which Barrowe
himself outlined his system ; the " True Confes-
sion," issued by the same church about ten years
later ; " The Points of Difference," some four-
teen in number, in which the London- Amsterdam
church set forth wherein it differed from the
English church ; and the " Seven Articles,"
signed by John Eobinson and William Brewster.
This last document the exiled Scrooby church
sent from Leyden to the English Council of
State in 1617, with the hope of convincing King
James that if allowed to go to America under the
Virginia patent, and to worship there in their
own fashion, they would be desirable colonists
and law-abiding subjects. The "True Confes-
sion " a sets forth the nature, powers, order, and
officers of the church. It limits the sacraments
to the members, and baptism to their children.
It insists upon the wisdom of churches seeking

a Its full title is " A True Confession of the Faith and
Humble Acknowledgement of the Allegeance which wee his
Majestes Subjects falsely called Brownists, doo hould towards
God and yeild his Majestie and all others that are over us in
the Lord."

32 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

advice from one another, and of their use of cer-
tificates of membership so as to guard against
the admission of strangers coining from other
churches, and possibly of unworthy character. In
the definition of eldership, the " True Confes-
sion " passes out of the haze in which Barrowe's
" True Description " left the conflicting powers
of the eldership, and of the church. It plainly
asserts that the elders have the power of guid-
ance and also of control, should members attempt
to censure them or to interfere in matters be-
yond their knowledge. This platform also insists
that magistrates should uphold the church which
it defines, because it is the one true church, and
that they should oppose all others as anti-Chris-
tian.15 In the " Points of Difference," stress is
again laid upon the covenant-nature of the church,
upon its voluntary support, upon the right of
election of officers, and upon the abolishment of
" Popish Canons, Courts, Classes, Customs or any
human inventions," including the Popish liturgy,
the Book of Common Prayer, and " all Monu-
ments of Idolatry in garments or in other things,
and all Temples, Chapels, etc." Many of the
Puritans desired these same changes. Many
favored a polity giving the local churches some
degree of choice in the election of their officers.
If the " Points of Difference " aimed to lay bare

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 33

the errors of Episcopacy and of Presbyterianism
as well as to demonstrate the superior merits of
the new aspirant for the status of a national
church, the " Seven Articles " 16 aimed to mini-
mize differences in church usage by omitting
mention of them when possible and by emphasiz-
ing agreement. The evident advance along the
line of a more authoritative eldership had devel-
oped out of the experience of the first two Eng-
lish churches in Amsterdam. John Robinson and
his followers had held more closely to Robert
Browne's standard of Congregationalism, for
Robinson maintained that the government of the
church should be vested in its membership rather
than in its eldership alone. In order to main-
tain this principle in greater purity, Robinson
withdrew his fold from their first resting-place
in Amsterdam to Leyden. Richard Clyfton, who
had been pastor of the church in Scrooby, re-
mained in Amsterdam, partly because he felt too
old to migrate again, and partly because he leaned
to Francis Johnson's more aristocratic theories
of church government. These divergent views
caused trouble in the Amsterdam churches, and
Robinson wished to be far enough away to be out
of the vortex of doctrinal eddies. For eleven
years his people lived a peaceful and exemplary
church life in Leyden, and it was chiefly their

31 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

longing to rear their children in an English home
and under English influences that made them
anxious to emigrate to America. As the years
passed, Robinson sympathized more with the
Barrowistic standards of other churches and came
also to regard more leniently the English Estab-
lished Church as one having true religion under
corrupt forms and ceremonies, and accordingly
one with which he could hold a limited fellow-
ship. This was a step in the approachment of
Separatist and Puritan, and Robinson was a
most influential writer. Of necessity, his work
was largely controversial, but he wrote from the
standpoint of defense, and rarely departed from
a broad and kindly spirit. In the " Seven Arti-
cles " Robinson admits the royal supremacy in
so far as to countenance a passive obedience.
His teaching had the greatest influence in shap-
ing the religious life of the first and second gen-
eration of New Englanders.

The Separatists who remained in England de-
voted themselves to the discussion of particu-
lar topics rather than to platforms of faith and
discipline. Many of the writers were men who,
like the pastors of two of the exiled churches,
were at first ministers in good standing in the
English church ; but, later, had allowed their
Puritan tendencies to outrun the bounds of that

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 35

party and to become convictions that the Bible
commanded their separation from the Establish-
ment as witnesses to the corruptions it counte-
nanced. Poring over the Bible story, they had
become enamored with the simplicity of the Gos-
pel age.

From the days of Elizabeth, the English na-
tion became more and more a people of one book,
and that book the Bible. As, deeply dyed with
Calvinism, they read over and over its sacred
pages, they became a serious, sombre, purpose-
ful— and almost fanatic people. The faults and
extravagances of the Puritan party and of the
later Commonwealth do not at this time concern
us. It is with their purposefulness, their deter-
mination to make the church a home of vigorous
and visible righteousness, and to preserve their
ecclesiastical and civil liberties from the en-
croachment of Stuart pretensions, that we have
to do. More and more, as has been said, the
Puritan was coming to the conviction that the
best way to reform the church would be to sub-
stitute some restrictive policy for her all-embra-
cing membership, or, at least, to supplement it by
such measures of local church discipline as should
practically exclude the unregenerate and the im-
moral. Again, the Church of England could be
arraigned as a politico-ecclesiastical institution,

36 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

and in the pages of the Bible, King James's
theory of the divine right of kings and bishops
found no support. It was obnoxious alike to
Separatist and Puritan, and James's Puritan sub-
jects had the sympathy of more than three
fourths of the squires and burgesses in the king's
first Parliament of 1604, while the Separatists
counted some twenty thousand converts in his
realm. The Puritan opposition was a formidable
one to provoke. Yet " the wisest fool in Christ-
endom " jeered at its clergy and scolded its re-
presentatives in Parliament for daring to warn
him, in their reply to his boasted divine right of
kings, that

Your majesty would be misinformed if any man
should deliver that the Kings of England have any
absolute power in themselves either to alter religion,
or to make any laws concerning the same, other-
wise than as in temporal causes, by consent of Parlia-
ment.

It was the extravagant claims for himself and
his bishops, coupled with his lawless overriding
of justice and his profligate use of the national
wealth, that undermined the king's throne and
prepared the downfall of the House of Stuart.
Notwithstanding the remonstrance of Parlia-
ment, James's insistence upon his divine right,
by very force of reiteration, whether his own or

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 37

that of the clergy who favored royalty, won a
growing recognition from a conservative people.
For his king as the political head of the nation,
the Puritan had all the Englishman's half-idola-
trous reverence, until James's own acts outraged
justice and substituted contempt.

The self-restraint for which every Separatist,
every Puritan, strove, was characteristic of the
great reform party. They asked only for eccle-
siastical betterment, for the reform of the ecclesi-
astical courts, for provision for a godly ministry,
and for the suppression of " Popish usages."
These requests of the " Millenary Petition" were,
after the Guy Fawkes plot, urged with all the
intensity of a people who, as they looked abroad
upon the feeble and warring Protestantism of
Europe, and at home upon the attempt to revive
Komanism, believed themselves the sole hope and
savior of the Protestant cause. Persecution had
created a small measure of tolerance throughout
all nonconformist bodies. Fear of the revival
of Catholicism, the renewed attempt to enforce
the Three Articles, the dismissal from their par-
ishes of three hundred Puritan ministers, and
the hand and glove policy of the king and his
bishops, welded together the variants in the Puri-
tan party. The desire for personal righteous-
ness, for morality in church and state, which had

38 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

seized upon the masses in the nation, stood aghast
at the profligacy of the king and his courtiers.
Reason seemed to cry aloud for reform, prefer-
ably for a reform that should be free from every
trace of the old hypocrisies, but which should be
strong within the old episcopal system which
had endured for centuries and which still kept
its hold upon the vast majority of the people.
And to this idea of reform the great Puritan
party clung, until the exactions of the Stuarts,
their suppression of both religious and civil
rights, forced upon it a civil war and the forma-
tion of the Commonwealth. As a preliminary
training of the men of the Puritan armies and
of the Commonwealth, and for their great con-
test, all the years of Bible study, of controversial
writing, of individual suffering, were needed.
These brought forth the necessary moral earnest-
ness, the mental acumen, the enduring strength.
These qualities, though most noticeable in the
leaders, were well-nigh universal traits. Every
common soldier felt himself the equal of his
officer as a soldier of God, a defender of the
faith, and a necessary builder of Christ's new
kingdom upon earth. To this growing sense of
democracy, to this sense of personal responsibil-
ity and self-sacrifice, the teaching, the writings,
and the sufferings of the oppressed Separatists,

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 39

as well as those of the persecuted Puritans, had
contributed.

When, in 1620, James I permitted the Pil-
grims of Leyden to emigrate, they planted in
Plymouth of New England the first American
Consreffational church and erected there the first
American commonwealth. The influence of this
Separatist church upon New England religious
life belongs to another chapter. Here it is only
necessary to repeat that its members differed
not at all in creed, only in polity, from the Eng-
lish established church out of which they had
originally come. With the English Puritan they
were one in faith, while they differed little from
him in theories of church government, though
much in practice. In America, the Plymouth col-
onists at once set up the same church polity as
in Leyden, one from which, as has been shown,
many of the English Puritans would have bor-
rowed the features of a converted or covenant
membership and of local self-government, or at
least some measure of it. Eight years were to
elapse before the great Puritan exodus began.
In those eight years both parties, thuough the
discipline of time, were to be brought still nearer
to a common standard of church life. When the
vanguard of the Puritans reached the Massa-
chusetts shore, the Plymouth church stood ready

40 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT

to extend the right hand of fellowship. How it
did so, and how it impressed itself upon the
church life in the three colonies of Massachu-
setts, New Haven, and Connecticut, is a part of
the story of the earliest period of colonial Con-
gregationalism.

CHAPTER II

THE TRANSPLANTING OF CONGREGATIONALISM

Those who cross the sea change not their affection but their
skies. — Horace.

The rule of absolutism forced the transplanting
of a democratic church. The arrogance of the
House of Stuart compelled English Puritans to
seek refuge in America. The exercise of the
divine right of kings and of the divine power
of bishops provoked the commonwealths of New
England and the development there of the Con-
gregational church, as later it brought the Com-
monwealth of Cromwell, with its tolerance of
Independent and Presbyterian.

When the Pilgrims left England, the Puritans
had entered upon their long contest with James
over their ecclesiastical and also their constitu-
tional rights. At his accession, the king had
seemed inclined to tolerate the Catholics. Yet
only a short time elapsed before many Romanists
were found upon the proscribed lists. The Guy
Fawkes plot followed. Its scope, its narrow mar-
gin of failure, coupled with the king's previous

42 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

leniency towards Catholics and his bitter persecu-
tion of nonconformists, created a frenzy of fear
among Protestants. Immediately the Puritans
saw in every objectionable ceremonial of the
English church some hidden purpose, some Jesu-
itical contrivance for overthrowing Protestantism.
And as the ritualistic clergy made their pulpits
resound with the doctrines of the divine right of
kings, the divine right of bishops, and of passive
obedience, and as they thundered at the preachers
who opposed or denied these principles, the high-
church party came to be associated more and
more with the unconstitutional policy of the king.
And this was so, notwithstanding the praise-
worthy efforts of Archbishop Abbott to modify
the practical working of these royal notions. This
archbishop of Canterbury was a man of great
learning and of gentle spirit. His name stands
second among the translators of King James's
version, while as head of the Ecclesiastical Com-
mission his power was great, his influence far
reaching. So earnestly did he strive to moderate
the king's severity toward nonconformists, to
bring about a compromise between the two great
church parties, and so simple was the ritual in
his palace at Lambeth, that many people believed
the kindly prelate was more than half a Puritan
at heart. He even refused to license the publi-

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 43

cation of a sermon that most unduly exalted the
king's prerogative, and he forbade the reading
of James's proclamation permitting games and
sports on Sunday. This proclamation was the
famous " Book of Sports," and many Puritan
clergymen paid dearly for refusing to read it to
their congregations. Its issue exasperated and dis-
couraged the reform party, and, from this time,
the Puritans began to lose hope that any moral
or religious betterment would be permitted among
the people.

In the constitutional imbroglio, James resented
the attempt of Parliament to curb his extrava-
gance by its method of granting him money on
condition that he would make ecclesiastical re-
forms and grant the redress of other grievances.
When the king grew angry and attempted to rule
without a Parliament, the Puritan party broad-
ened its purpose and became the champion also
of civil liberty. Among his offenses, James re-
fused to restore to their pulpits three hundred
Puritan ministers whom, in 1605, he silenced for
not accepting the Three Articles, notwithstand-
ing the fact that Parliament itself had refused to
make them binding upon the clergy. The king
also refused to define the jurisdiction of the ec-
clesiastical courts, and to respect the limitation
of the powers of the High Court of Commission

44 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

when they were determined by the judges. And
further, James positively refused to admit that
with Parliament alone rested the power to levy
imposts and duties. After wrangling with his
first Parliament for seven years over these and
similar questions, the king ruled for the next
three without that representative body. Finding
it necessary, in 1614, to convene his lords,
squires, and burgesses, the king was disappointed
to find that the new Parliament was no more
pliable to his will than its predecessor had been,
and he shortly dissolved it. The great leaders of
the opposition, such as Coke, Eliot, Pym, Selden
and Hampden, were not all Puritans, but these
men, and others of their kind, joined with the
reform party in demanding that the rights of
the people should be respected and the evils
of government redressed. James's whole reign
was marked by quarrels with a stubborn Parlia-
ment and by periods of absolute rule that were
characterized by forced loans and other unlawful
extortions.

Upon the death of James, in 1625, the nation
turned hopefully to the young prince, who thus
far had pleased them in many ways. In contrast
to the ungainly, rickety, garrulous James, Charles
was kingly in appearance, bearing, and demeanor.
He was reserved in speech and manner. So far,

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 45

the stubbornness which he had inherited from
his father was mistaken for a strong will, and his
attitude towards Spain, after the failure of the
Catholic marriage which had been arranged for
him, was regarded as indicating his strong Pro-
testantism. It took but a short time, however, to
reveal his stubbornness, his vanity, pique, ex-
travagance, and insincerity. Within four years,
he had dissolved Parliament three times, had
sent Sir John Eliot to the Tower for boldly de-
fending the rights of the people, had dismissed
the Chief Justice from office for refusing to
recognize as legal taxes laid without consent
of Parliament, had thrown John Hampden
into prison for refusing to pay a forced loan, and,
finally, had signed the " Petition of Rights " 17 in
1628, only to violate it almost as soon as the con-
temporary bill for subsidies had been passed.
Charles, finding he could not coerce Parliament,
dissolved it, and entered upon his twelve years
of absolute rule, marked by imprisonments, by
arbitrary fines, forced loans, sales of monopolies,
and illegal taxes, which raised the annual reve-
nue from £500,000 to X800,000.18

It was during the first years of Charles's misrule
— to be specific, in 1627 — that "some friends
being together in Lincolnshire fell into discourse
about New England and the planting of the Gos-

46 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

pel there." Among them were, probably, Thomas
Dudley (who mentions the discussion in a letter
to the Countess of Lincoln), Atherton Hough,
Thomas Leverett, and possibly also John Cotton
and Roger Williams, for all these men were wont
to assemble at Tattersall Castle, the family seat
of Lord Lincoln. The latter was, in religious
matters, a staunch Puritan, and in political, a
fearless opponent of forced loans and illegal
measures. Thomas Dudley was his steward and
confidential adviser, and the others were his per-
sonal friends and, in politics, his loyal followers.
These men, afterwards prominent in New Eng-
land, had watched with interest the fortunes of
the Plymouth Colony, and now concluded that
since England lay helpless in the grasp of Charles
the time had come to prepare somewhere in the
American wilderness a refuge and home for
oppressed Englishmen and persecuted Puritans.
This little group of men began at once to corre-
spond with others in London and also in the west
of England who were like-minded with them-
selves. Men of the west, in and about Dorchester,
had for some four years or more been interested
in the New England fisheries between the Ken-
nebec and Cape Ann. On that promontory they
had landed some fourteen men, hoping to start a
permanent settlement. The plan had failed, the

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 47

partnership had been dissolved, and a few of the
settlers had removed to Salem, Massachusetts.
The Rev. John White, the Puritan rector of
Salem, England, saw a great opportunity. He at
once interested some wealthy merchants to make
Salem, in Massachusetts, the first post in a colo-
nization scheme of great magnitude, and as leader
of an advance party they secured John Endicott.
From the council for New England the company
secured a patent on March 19, 1628, for the lands
between the Merrimac and the Charles rivers.
On June 20, 1628, thirteen days after Charles
had signed the "Petition of Rights" that he
was so soon to violate, the advance guard of the
colonists set sail for Salem, in the New World,
arriving there early in the following Septem-
ber.

In America, friendly relations were soon es-
tablished between the settlers of Salem and Plym-
outh. On the voyage over, sickness, due to the
unwholesome salt in which some of their provi-
sions had been packed, broke out among the
Salem colonists, and continuing in the settlement,
forced Endicott to send to Plymouth for Dr.
Samuel Fuller, deacon in the church there. He
was skilled both in medicine and in church-lore,
for he had also been one of the two deacons in
the church during its Leyden days. He worked

48 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

among the disabled at Salem, and, later, among
the sick colonists at Boston, paving the way for
a better understanding and closer friendship with
the Plymouth settlers. There had been a ten-
dency to look upon these earlier colonists as ex-
tremists. Their enemies in derision called them
" Brownists." They did in truth cling most firmly
to Browne's doctrine that the civil magistrate had
no control over the church of Christ. In their
opinion, the function of the civil power in any
union of church and state was limited to up-
holding the spiritual power by approving the
church's discipline, since that had for its object
the moral welfare of the people. As Endicott and
Fuller talked together of all that in their hearts
they both desired for the church of the future,
they realized that they agreed on many points.
The Plymouth church had been virtually under
the sole rule of its elder, William Brewster,
during the greater part of its life in America,
for its aged pastor had died before he could re-
join his flock. Such government had tended to
modify the early insistence upon the principle
that the power of the church was " above that
of its officers." This doctrine was associated
in men's minds more with Robert Browne, who
had originated it, than with Henry Barrowe,
who had modified it, and it was towards Bar-

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 49

rowism that the larger body of Puritans were
drawn.

The Salem people, in their isolation three
thousand miles from the home-land, felt the neces-
sity of some form of church organization. As
they had fled from the offensive ceremonial of the
English Church, they determined to be free from
cross and prayer-book, and from anything sug-
gestive of offense. In the great matter of mem-
bership and constitution, their new church was
to be brought still nearer to the requirements
and simplicity of Gospel standards. More and
more Puritans were coming to prefer the church
of " covenant membership " to the birthright
membership of the English Establishment. Many
were urging a limited independence in the organ-
ization, management, and discipline of members
of local churches. Some among the Puritans had
adopted the Presbyterian polity, while many pre-
ferred that form of ordination. Such ordination
had been accepted as valid for English clergy-
men during the earlier part of Elizabeth's reign.
It was still so recognized by all the English clergy
for the ministers of the Reformed churches on
the Continent, and with such, English clergy-
men of all opinions still continued to hold very
friendly intercourse. It was not until Laud's
ascendency that claims for the divine right of

50 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Episcopacy, to the exclusion of other branches
of the Christian faith, were strenuously urged.
Thus it happened that after many conferences,
Endicott could write to Governor Bradford in
May of 1629, that: —

I acknowledge myself much bound to you for
your kind love and care in sending Mr. Samuel
Fuller among us, and rejoice much that I am by him
satisfied touching your judgment of the outward form
of God's worship. It is, as far as I can gather, no
other than is warranted by the evidence of truth, and
the same which I have ever professed and maintained
ever since the Lord in mercy revealed Himself unto
me : being far from the common report that hath been
spread of you touching that particular.

Endicott further expresses the wish that they
may all " as Christian brethren be united by a
heavenly and unfeigned love ; " that as servants
of one Master and of one household they should
not be strangers, but be " marked with one and
the same mark, and sealed with one and the same
seal, and have, for the main, one and the same
heart guided by one and the same Spirit of
truth," and that they should bend their hearts
and forces to the furthering of the work for
which they had come into the wilderness. Thus,
Salem had decided upon the type of church
her people wanted, while she still waited for the

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 51

ministers who were coming with the larger num-
ber of her colonists, and whom she believed com-
petent to guide her religious life.

Only a few weeks after the sending of Endi-
cott's letter to Governor Bradford, five vessels
arrived, bringing several hundred well-equipped
colonists. They had been sent out by the Gov-
ernor and Company of Massachusetts Bay. This
corporation had bought out the Salem Company,
and was backed by the most influential Puritans
of wealth and social prominence, by men who
had lost all hope of either religious or civil free-
dom when Laud had been raised to the bishopric
of London and when Charles persisted in his
despotic government. By the elevation of Laud
to the bishopric of London, Charles offended
the most puritanically inclined diocese in Eng-
land, and the whole Puritan party. In his new
office, Laud quickly succeeded in severing com-
munication between the Reformed churches on
the Continent and those in England. He strictly
prohibited the common people from using the
annotated pocket-Bibles sent out by the Genevan
press. He forbade the entrance into office of
nonconformists as lecturers or chaplains. He
put an end to feofments, so that puritanically
inclined men of wealth could no longer control
the livings. He excluded suspended ministers

52 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

from teaching, and also from the practice of
medicine, and even forbade their entering busi-
ness life. He required absolute conformity to his
own high-church standards. He insisted upon
doing away with all Calvinistic innovations
tending to simplicity of ritual, and upon reviv-
ing many ecclesiastical ceremonies which had
fallen into disuse. Hence, English Puritans
saw in America the only hope of the future, and
began that exodus which, during the next ten
years, or more, annually sent two thousand emi-
grants to the Massachusetts shore to find homes
throughout New England. Of these, the Salem
colonists were the first large body of Puritans to
emigrate. Among them were three ministers,
Endicott's former pastor Samuel Skelton, Fran-
cis Higginson, and Francis Bright.

When Higginson and Skelton learned of the
friendship with Plymouth, and that Endicott
had adopted the system of church organization
established in the older settlement, they accepted
it as being in accord with the principles of the
Reformed churches on the Continent, whose pat-
tern they had themselves resolved to follow in
organizing: the church at Salem. Not so Francis
Bright. He could not agree with the others,
and so withdrew to Charlestown in order not to
embarrass the young church. Higginson and

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 53

Skelton were each in turn questioned as to their
conception of a minister's calling. Replying that
it was twofold : a call from within to a conviction
that a man was chosen of God to be His minis-
ter, and thereby endowed with proper gifts, and
a call from without by the free choice of a
" covenanted church " to be its pastor, they were
accepted as satisfactory candidates for the two
highest offices in the Salem church. Later, upon
an appointed day of prayer and fasting, July
20, 1629, the people by written ballot chose
Francis Skelton to be their pastor and Thomas
Higginson their teacher. When they had ac-
cepted their election, " first Mr. Higginson, with
three or four of the gravest members of the
church, laid their hands upon Mr. Skelton, using
prayer therewith. This being done, there was
imposition of hands upon Mr. Higginson also."
Upon a still later day of prayer and humiliation,
August 6, elders and deacons were chosen and
ordained. Upon this day, the two ministers
and many among the people gave their assent
to the Confession and Covenant which the pastor
and teacher had revised. At the second of these
two important meetings, Governor Bradford
and delegates from the Plymouth church were
present. " Coining by sea they were hindered
by cross-winds that they could not be there at the

54 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

beginning of the day ; but they came into the
assembly afterward, and gave them the right
hand of fellowship, wishing all prosperity and
all blessedness to such good beginnings." 19 The
Salem covenant in its original form was a single
sentence : " We covenant with the Lord and
with one another ; and doe bynd ourselves in
the presence of God to walk together in all his
wayes, according as he is pleased to reveale him'
self unto us in his Blessed word of truth." ^

The formation of the church of Salem by
covenant practice a marked the beginning of the
Congregational polity among the Puritan body ;
their local ordination of their minister, the break
with English Episcopacy, though, for a consider-
able while longer, the colonists still spoke of
themselves as members of the Church of Eng-
land, for both the colonial and the home author-
ities were equally anxious to avoid the stigma of
Separatism.

The next large body of colonists to leave Eng-

° This fundamental principle of Congregationalism belonged
to the Separatists and was one of their distinctive tenets. It
was never adopted by the English Puritans as a body, nor was
ordination by a local church. The Dorchester church had some
form of pledge at the time of its organization. So also, pos-
sibly, because influenced by Dutch example, did Rev. Hugh
Peter's church in Rotterdam. But these were exceptions. —
W. Walker, Ilist. of Cong., p. 192.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 55

land was Governor Winthrop's company, and,
upon their arrival, the Boston church quickly
followed the example of Salem. Next, the Dor-
chester church, afterwards the church of Wind-
sor, Connecticut, emigrated as a body from
Plymouth, England, where, before embarking,
its members seem to have taken some form of
membership pledge, — an unusual proceeding,
but operating to put this church in line with
those already organized in Plymouth and Mas-
sachusetts. The Watertown church, whence
emigrants were to settle Wethersfield, Connecti-
cut, also organized with a covenant similar to
that of Salem and Boston. These four oldest
congregations set the type for the thirty-five
New England churches that were founded pre-
vious to 1640, as well as for the later ones that
followed the standard thus early set up by Plym-
outh, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. There
was some variation in the form of covenant^
and to it a brief confession of faith, or creed,
was early added. There was some variation also

a The evolution of the Salem covenant and creed is given
in detail in W. Walker's Creeds and Platforms, pp. 99-122.

The Windsor Creed of 1647, though not covering the range
of Christian doctrine, contained in simple phrase the essentials
of Gospel redemption from sin through repentance and faith in
the atoning work of Christ and a life of love toward God and
our neighbor, through the strength which comes from him.
— W. Walker, Creeds and Platforms, p. 154.

56 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

in the interpretation of the laying on of hands
in ordination as to whether it was to be con-
sidered, in cases where the candidate had pre-
viously been ordained in England, as ordination
or as confirmation of that previously received.3
In regard to officers, the churches at first pro-
vided themselves with pastor, ruling elders (one
or two, but generally only one), and deacons.
There were exceptions among them, as at Plym-
outh, where there was no pastor for ten years,
and in which there had never been a teacher,
for John Robinson had filled both offices. As
the first generation of colonists passed away,
partly because of lack of fit candidates, partly
because of the kinship of the two offices of pas-
tor and teacher, and partly because of the heavy
expense in supporting both, the office of teacher
was dropped. The ruling eldership also was
gradually discontinued ; but at first the churches
generally had, with the exception of widows, the
full complement of officers as appointed by
Browne and Barrowe. The usual order of wor-
ship was (1) Prayer. (2) Psalm. (3) Scripture
reading, followed by the pastor's preaching to
explain and apply it. (4) Prophesying or ex-
hortation, the elders calling for speakers, whether

a See G. L. Walker, Hist, of First Church in Hartford,
p. 17.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 57

members or guests from other churches. (5)
Questions from old or young, women excepted.

(6) Occasional administration of the Lord's
Supper or of Baptism, rites known as the ad-
ministration of " the Seals of the Covenant. "

(7) Psalm. (8) Collection. (9) Dismissal with
blessing. Such were the New England churches,
the churches of a transplanted creed and race.
They were Calvinistic in dogma, democratic in
organization, and of extreme simplicity in their
order of worship.

CHAPTER III

CHURCH AND STATE IN NEW ENGLAND

For God and the Church !

With the great Puritan body in England, and
with the great mass of the English nation,
whatever their religious opinions, the colonists of
Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New
Haven held in common one foremost theory of
civil government. Pausing for a brief considera-
tion of this fundamental and far-reaching theory,
which created so many difficulties in the infant
commonwealths, and which confronts us again and
again as we follow their later history, we find that
the Pilgrim Separatist of Plymouth, the strict
Puritan of Massachusetts, the voter in the theo-
cratic commonwealth of New Haven, and the
holder of the liberal franchise in Connecticut, all
clung to the proposition that the State's first duty
was the maintenance and support of religion.
Thereby they meant enforced taxation for the
support of its predominant type, conformity to
its mode of worship, and in the last analysis
supervision or control of the Church by the State

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 59

or by the General Court of each colony. As a
corollary to this proposition, the duty of the
churches was to define the creed, to set forth the
church polity, and to determine the bounds of mo-
rality within the state. Two of the colonies held
the corollary to be so important that it almost
changed places with the proposition when Massa-
chusetts and New Haven became rigid theocracies.0
With respect to taxation in the four colonies
the statement should be modified, inasmuch as the
support of religion was at first voluntary in all
four : in Plymouth until 1657., in Massachu-
setts from 1630 to 1638, in Connecticut before
1640 ; yet both New Haven and Connecticut
accepted the suggestion made by the Commis-
sioners of the United Colonies on September 5,
1644, " that each man should be required to set
down what he would voluntarily give for the
support of the gospel, and that any man who re-
fused should be rated according to his possessions
and compelled to pay "the sum so levied. Since
in religious affairs strict conformity was required
by the three Puritan colonies, and since the
liberty accorded to the few early dissenters in

a " The one prime, all essential, and sufficient quality of a
theocracy . . . adopted as the form of an earthly government,
was that the civil power should be guided in its exercise by
religion and religious ordinances." — G. E. Ellis, Puritan Age in
Massachusetts, p. 188.

60 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Plymouth was not such as to modify her prevail-
ing polity or worship, these first few years of
voluntary assessment do not nullify the dominant
truth of the preceding statement.

In the intimate relation of Church and State,
the people of these four New England colonies
regarded the magistrates as " Nursing Fathers "
of the Church, 21 who were to take " special note
and care of every Church and provide and assign
allotments of land for the maintenance of each of
them." ^ The State, accepting the same view of
caretaker, carried its supervision still farther and
devised a system for the maintenance of the min-
istry in accordance with sundry laws made to in-
sure the people's support, respect, and obedience.
The churches reciprocated. First of all, they
provided their members with the approved and
accepted essentials of religious life, and they
further exercised a rigorous supervision over the
moral welfare of the whole community. Secondly,
they aided the State through the influence of their
ministers, who, on all important occasions, were
expected to meet with the magistrates to consult
and advise upon affairs whether spiritual or tem-
poral. But the framers of governments were not
satisfied with these measures that aimed to present
a strongly established church, capable of extend-
ing a fine moral, ethical, and religious influence

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 61

over the colonists, and also to enforce upon the
wayward, the careless, or the indifferent among
them its support and their obedience. If these
measures provided for the ordinary welfare of
the community and for the usual relations be-
tween the ministers and their people, there were
still possibilities of factional strife to guard
against, and such warfare in that age might or
mig;ht not confine itself within the limits of theo-
logical controversy or within the lines of church
organization. Consequently, the better to pre-
serve the churches from schism or corrupting in-
novations and the commonwealth from discord,
the supreme control of the churches was lodged
in the General Court of each colony. It could,
whenever necessary to secure harmony, whether
ecclesiastical or civil, legislate with reference to
all or any of the churches within its jurisdiction.
Examples of such legislation occur frequently
in the religious history of the colonies, especially
of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Such inter-
dependence of the spiritual and temporal power
practically amounted to a union of Church and
State. Indeed, in Massachusetts and New Haven,
to be a voter, a man must first be a member of
a church of approved standing.0 In more liberal

a " Noe man shal be admitted to the freedome of this body
politicke, but such as are members of some of the churches

62 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Plymouth and Connecticut, the franchise, at first,
was made to depend only upon conduct, though
it was early found necessary to add a property
qualification in order to cut off undesirable
voters.23 In the Connecticut colony, it was ex-
pressly enacted that church censure should not
debar from civil privilege. When advocating this
amount of separation between church and civil
power, Thomas Hooker was not moved by any
such religious principle as influenced the Separa-
tists of Plymouth. On the contrary, it was his
political foresight which made him urge upon the

within the lymitts of the same." — Mass. Col. Rec. i, 87, under
date of May 28, 1631.

" Church members onely shall be free burgesses and they
onely shall chuse magistrates and officers among themselves to
haue the power of transacting in all publique and ciuill affayres
of this plantatio." — New Haven Col. Rec. i, 15; also ii, 115,
116.

The governments of Massachusetts and New Haven " never
absolutely merged church and state." The franchise depended
on church-membership, but the voter, exercising his right in
directing the affairs of the colony, was speaking, " not as the
church but as the civil Court of Legislation and adjudication."
— W. Walker, History of the Congregational Churches, p. 123.

Yet it was due to this merging and this dependence that on
October 25, 1639, there were only sixteen free burgesses or
voters out of one hundred and forty-four planters in the New
Haven Colony. — See N. H. Col. Rec. i, 20.

" Theoretically Church and State (in Connecticut) were sepa-
rated : practically they were so interwoven that separation
would have meant the severance of soul and body." — C. M.
Andrews, Three River Towns of Conn. p. 22.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 63

colonists a more representative government a than
would be obtainable from a franchise based upon
church-membership where, as in the colonial
churches, admission to such membership was con-
ditioned upon exacting tests. The great Connect-
icut leader was far in advance of the statesmen
of his time, for they held that the religion of a
prince or government must be the religion of the
people ; that every subject must be by birthright
a member of the national church, to leave which
was both heretical and disloyal and should be
punished by political and civil disabilities. This
union of Church and State was the theory of the
age, — a principle of statecraft throughout all
of Europe as well as in England. Naturally it
emigrated to New England to be a foundation of
civil government and a fortress for that type
of nonconformity which the colonists chose to
transplant and make predominant. The type,

a To John Cotton's " democracy, I do not conceive that ever
God did ordain, as a fit government for church or common-
wealth," and to Gov. Winthrop's objections to committing' mat-
ters to the judgment of the body of the people because " safety
lies in the councils of the best part which is always the least,
and of the best part, the wiser is always the lesser," Hooker
replied that " in all matters which concern the common good,
a general council, chosen by all, to transact the business which
concerns all, I conceive under favor, most suitable to rule and
most safe for tbe relief of the whole." — Hutchinson, Hist, of
Mass. i, App. iii.

64 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

as we have seen, was Congregationalism, and the
Congregational church became the established
church in each of the four colonies.

This theory of Church and State was the cause
at bottom of all the early theological dissensions
which disturbed the peace and threatened the
colony of Massachusetts. Moreover, their settle-
ment offers the most striking contrast between
the fundamental theory of Congregationalism
and the theory of a union between Church and
State. With the power of supervision over the
Church lodged in the General Court, whatever
the theory of Congregationalism as to the inde-
pendence of the individual churches, in practice
the civil authority disciplined them and their
members, and early invaded ecclesiastical terri-
tory. In Salem, Endicott took it upon himself to
expel Ralph Smith for holding extreme Separat-
ist principles, and shipped the Browns back to
England for persisting in the use of the Book
of Common Prayer. He considered both parties
equally dangerous to the welfare of the com-
munity, because, according to the new standard
of church-life, both were censurable. Endicott
held that to tolerate any measure of diversity in
religious practices was to cultivate the ferment
of civil disorder. Considering the bitterness, nar-
rowness, intensity, and also the irritating convic-

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 65

tion that every one else was heretical and anti-
Christian, with which men of that age clung to
their religious differences, Endicott had some
reason for holding this opinion. The Boston
authorities believed in no less drastic measures
to maintain the civil peace and consequent good
name of the colony. John Davenport of New
Haven voiced the Massachusetts sentiment as well
as his own in: "Civil government is for the com-
mon welfare of all, as well in the Church as with-
out ; which will then be most certainly effected,
when Public Trust and Power of these matters
is committed to such men as are most approved
according to God; and these are Church-mem-
bers."24 Consequently, the Massachusetts law
of 1631 25 forbade any but church members to
become freemen of the colony, and to these only
was intrusted any share in its government. A
similar law was later formulated for the New
Haven colony. John Cotton echoed the further
sentiment of a New England community when,
writing of the relations between the churches
and the magistrates, he defined the church as
" subject to the Magistrate in the matters con-
cerning the civil peace, of which there are four
sorts: " (1) with reference to men's goods, lives,
liberty, and lands ; (2) with establishment of
religion in doctrine, worship, and government

66 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

according to the Word of God, as also the re-
formation of corruption in any of these ; (3) with
certain public spiritual administrations which
may help forward the public good, as fasts and
synods ; (4) and finally the church must be sub-
ject to the magistrates in patient suffering of
unjust persecution, since for her to take up the
sword in her own defense would only increase
the disturbance of the public peace.26 As a re-
sult of such public sentiment, churches were not
to be organized without the approval of the mag-
istrates, nor were any " persons being members
of any church . . . gathered without the appro-
bation of the magistrates and the greater part of
said churches " (churches of the colony) to be
admitted to the freedom of the commonwealth.27
This law, or its equivalent, with reference to
church organization was found upon the statute
books of all four colonies.

In a pioneer community and a primitive com-
monwealth, developing slowly in accord with the
new democratic principles underlying both its
church and secular life, the " maintenance of the
peace and welfare of the churches," 28 which was
intrusted to the care of the General Court, was
frequently equivalent to maintaining the civil
peace and prosperity of the colony. Endicott's
deportation of the Browns and the report of the

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 67

exclusiveness and exacting tests of membership
in the colonial churches had early led the mem-
bers of the Massachusetts Bay Company, resi-
dent in England, to fear that the emigrants had
departed from their original intent and purpose.
And the colonists began to feel that they were
in danger of falling under the displeasure of their
king and of their Puritan friends at home. Con-
sequently, there entered into the settling of all
later religious differences in the colony the de-
termination to avoid appeals to the home country,
and also to avoid any report of disturbance or
dissatisfaction that might be prejudicial to her
independence, general policy, or commercial pros-
perity. The recognition of such danger made
many persons satisfied to submit to government
by an exclusive class, comprising in Massachu-
setts one tenth of the people and in the New
Haven colony one ninth. These alone had any
voice in making the laws. In submitting to their
dictation, the large majority of the people had
to submit to a "government that left no inci-
dent, circumstance, or experience of the life of
an individual, personal, domestic, social, or civil,
still less anything that concerned religion, free
from the direct or indirect interposition of pub-
lic authority." 29 Such inquisitorial supervision
was due to the close alliance of Church and State

G8 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

within the narrow limits of a theocracy. In
more liberal Plymouth and Connecticut, the
" watch and ward " over one's fellows, which
the early colonial church insisted upon, was ex-
tended only over church members, and even over
them was less rigorous, less intrusive.

Something of the development of the great
authority of the State over the churches and of
its attitude and theirs towards synods may be
gleaned from the earliest pages of Massachusetts
ecclesiastical history. The starting-point of pre-
cedent for the elders of the church to be regarded
as advisors only and the General Court as authori-
tative seems to have been in a matter of taxation,
when, in February, 1632, the General Court
assessed the church in Watertown. The elders
advised resistance ; the Court compelled payment.
In the following July, the Boston church inquired
of the churches of Plymouth, Salem, Dorchester,
and Watertown, whether a ruling elder could at
the same time hold office as a civil magistrate.
A correspondence ensued and the answer returned
was that he could not. Thereupon, Mr. Nowell
resigned his eldership in the Boston church.30
Winthrop mentions eight a important occasions

n (1) To adjust a difference between Governor Winthrop and
Deputy Dudley in 1632 ; (2) about building a fort at Nantas-
ket, February, 1G32 ; (3) in regard to the settlement of the

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 69

between 1632 and 1635 when the elders, which
term included pastors, teachers, and ruling elders,
were summoned by the General Court of Massa-
chusetts to give advice upon temporal affairs. In
March of 1635-36 the Court " entreated them
(the elders) together with the brethren of every
church within the jurisdiction, to consult and
advise of one uniforme order of discipline in the
churches agreable to Scriptures, and then to
consider how far the magistrates are bound to
interpose for the preservation of that uniformity
and peace of the churches." 31 The desire of the
Court grew in part out of the influx of new colo-
nists, who did not like the strict church disci-
pline, and in part out of the tangle of Church and
State during the Roger Williams controversy.
The Court had disciplined Williams as one, who,
having no rights in the corporation, had no ground
for complaint at the hostile reception of his teach-
ings. These the authorities regarded as harmful
to their government and dangerous to religion.
His too warm adherents in the Salem church

Rev. John Cotton, September, 1633 ; (4) in consultation con-
cerning Roger Williams's denial of the patent, January, 1634 ;
(5) concerning1 rights of trade at Kennebec, July, 1634 ; (6) in
regard to the fort on Castle Island, August, 1634 ; (7) concern-
ing the rumor in 1635 of the coming of a Governor-General ;
and (8) in the case of Mr. Nowell. — Winthrop, i, pp. 89, 99,
112, 122, 136-137, 159-181.

70 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

were, however, rightful members of the commu-
nity, and they had been punished for- upholding
one whom the General Court, advised by the
elders of the churches, had seen fit to censure.
Punished thus, ostensibly, for contempt of the
magistrates by the refusal to them of the land
they claimed as theirs on Marblehead Neck, and
feeling that the independence of their church life
and their rightful choice in the selection of their
pastor had really been infringed, the Salem
church sent letters to the elders of all the other
churches of the Bay, asking that the magistrates
and deputies be admonished for their decision as
a " heinous sin." The Court came out victorious,
by refusing at its next general session to seat the
Salem deputies " until they should give satisfac-
tion by letter" for holding dangerous opinions
and for writing " letters of defamation," and by
proceeding to banish Roger Williams. Before the
session of the Court, the elders of the Massachu-
setts churches, jointly and individually, labored
with the Salem people and brought the majority
to a conviction of their error in supporting lioger
Williams."

The platform of church discipline which the
Court advised in 1635-36 was not forthcoming,

" Roger Williams was die real author of the letters -which
the Salem church was required to disclaim.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 71

and the matter was allowed to rest.a In 1637,
with the consent of the General Court, a synod
of elders and lay delegates from all the New
Ens-land churches was called to harmonize the
discordant factions created by the heated Anti-
nomian controversy. During the synod, the mag-
istrates were present all the time as hearers, and
even as speakers, but not as members. The dan-
gerous schism was ended more by the Court's
banishment of Wheelwright and Mrs. Hutchin-
son, together with their more prominent followers,
than by the work of the synod. However, Gov-
ernor Winthrop was so delighted with the con-
ferences of the synod that, in his enthusiasm, he
suo-a-ested that it would be fit " to have the like
meeting once a year, or at least the next year, to
settle what yet remained to be agreed, or if but
to nourish love."32 But his suggestion was voted
down, for the Synod of 1637 was considered by
some to be "a perilous deflection from the theory
of Congregationalism." » Even the fortnightly
meeting of ministers who resided near each other,
and which it had become a custom to call for
friendly conference, was looked at askance by
those b who feared in it the germ of some authori-

« Upon a further suggestion from the General Court, John
Cotton prepared a catechism entitled Milk for Babes.

b Governor Winthrop replied to Dr. Skelton's objections
that " no church or person could have authority over another

72 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

tative body that should come to exercise control
over the individual churches. When this custom
was endorsed and permitted in the "Body of
Liberties," in 1641, the assurance that these
meetings " were only by way of Brotherly con-
ference and consultation " was felt to be neces-
sary to appease the opposition. When, two and
four years later, Anabaptist converts and a flood
of Presbyterian literature called for measures of
repression, and the Court summoned councils to
consult upon a course of action, it was most care-
fid in each case to reassert the doctrine of the
complete independence of the individual church.
Synods, from the purely Congregational stand-
point, were to be called only upon the initiative
of the churches, and were authoritative bodies,
composed of both ministerial and lay delegates
from such churches, and their duty was to confer
and advise upon matters of general interest or
upon special problems. In cases where their de-
cisions were unheeded, they could enforce their
displeasure at the contumacious church only by
cutting it off from fellowship. Consequently,
though there was some opposition to the Court's
calling of synods and a resultant general restless-
ness, there was none when the Court confined its

church." — See H. M. Dexter, Ecclesiastical Councils of New
Enyland, p. 31 ; Winthrop, i. p. 139.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 73

supervision and commands to individually schis-
matic churches or to unruly members. The time
had not yet come for the recognition of what this
double system of church government — govern-
ment by its members, supervision by the Court
— foreboded. The colonists did not see that
within it was the embryo of an authoritative body
exercising some of the powers of the Presbyterian
General Assembly. The supervising body might
be composed of laymen acting in their capacity as
members of the General Court, but the powers
they exercised were none the less akin to the
very ones that Congregationalism had declared
to be heretical and anti-Christian. Moreover, the
tendency was toward an increase of this authori-
tative power every time it was exercised and each
time that the colonists submitted to its dictation.
Of the two colonies founded after Massachu-
setts, Connecticut and New Haven, the latter
preserved the complete independence of her
original church until the admission of the shore
towns a to her jurisdiction, when she instituted
that friendly oversight of the churches which
had begun to prevail elsewhere. Thereafter her
General Court kept a rigorous oversight over the
purity of her churches and the conduct of their

a Guilford, Branford, Milford, Stamford, on the mainland,
and Southold, on Long Island.

74 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

members. The General Court of Connecticut
early compelled a recognition of its authority a
over the religious life of the people and its right
of special legislation.6 For example, in 1643, the
Court demanded of the Wethersfield church a list
of the grievances which disturbed it. In the next
year, when Matthew Allyn petitioned for an order
to the Hartford church, commanding the reconsid-

a The General Court was head of the churches. "It was
more than Pope, or Pope and College of Cardinals, for it ex-
ercised all authority, civil and ecclesiastical. In matters of
discipline, faith, and practice there was no appeal from its de-
cisions. Except the right to be protected in their orthodoxy
the churches had no privileges which the Court did not confer,
or could not take away." — Bronson's Early Gov't, in Conn. p.
347, in N. It. Hist. Soc. Papers, vol. iii.

b On August 18, 1658, the court refused, upon complaint
of the Wethersfield church, to remove Mr. Russell. In March,
1GG1, after duly considering the matter, the court allowed
Mr. Stow to sever his connection with the church of Middle-
town. It concerned itself with the strife in the Windsor church
over an assistant pastor from 10G7 to 16S0. It allowed the
settlement of Woodbury in 1672 because of dissatisfaction with
the Stratford church. It permitted Stratford to divide in 1669.
These are but a few instances both of the authority of the
General Court over individual churches and of that discord
which, finding its strongest expression in the troubles of the
Hartford church, not only rent the churches of Connecticut
from 1050 to 1670, but " insinuated itself into all the affairs
of the society, towns, and the whole community." Another
illustration of the court's oversight of the purity of religion
was its investigation in 1G70 into the " soundness of the minis-
ter at Rye." For these and hosts of similar examples see index
Conn. Cul. lite. vols, i, ii, iii, and iv.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 75

eration of its sentence of excommunication against
him, the Court " adjudged his plea an accusation
upon the church" which he was bound to prove.
These incidents from early colonial history in
some measure illustrate the practical working of
the theory of Church and State. The conviction
that the State should support one form of reli-
gion, and only one, was ever present to the colonial
mind. If confirmation of its worth were needed,
one had only to glance at the turmoil of the
Rhode Island colony experimenting with religious
liberty and a complete separation of Church and
State. Like all pioneers and reformers, she had
gathered elements hard to control, and would-be
citizens neither peaceable nor reasonable in their
interpretation of the new range of freedom.
Watching Rhode Island, the Congregational men
of New England hugged more tightly the con-
viction that their method was best, and that any
variation from it would work havoc. It was this
theory and this conviction, ever present in their
minds, that underlay all ecclesiastical laws, all
special legislation with reference to churches, to
their members, or to public fasts and thanksgiv-
ings. This deep-rooted conviction created hatred
toward and fear of all schismatical doctrines,
enmity toward all dissenting sects, and opposition
to any tolerance of them.

CHAPTER IV

THE CAMBRIDGE PLATFORM AND THE HALF-
WAY COVENANT

It is always right that a man should be able to render a
reason for the faith that is within him. — Sydney Smith.

In each of the New England colonies under con-
sideration, the settlers organized their church
system and established its relation to the State,
expecting that the strong arm of the temporal
power would insure stability and harmony in
both religious and civil life. As we know, they
were speedily doomed to disappointment. As we
have seen, they failed to estimate the influences
of the new land, where freedom from the re-
straint of an older civilization bred new ideas
and estimates of the liberty that should be ac-
corded men. Within the first decade Massachu-
setts had great difficulty in impressing religious
uniformity upon her rapidly increasing and heter-
ogeneous population. She found coercion diffi-
cult, costly, dangerous to her peace, and to her
reputation when the oppressed found favorable
ears in England to listen to their woes. Ecclesi-

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 77

astical differences of less magnitude, contempo-
rary in time and foreshadowing discontent and
opposition to the established order of Church
and State, were settled in more quiet ways.
John Davenport, after witnessing the Antino-
mian controversy, declined the pressing hospi-
tality of Massachusetts, and led his New Haven
company far enough afield to avoid theological
entanglements or disputed points of church
polity. Unimpeded, they would make their in-
tended experiment in statecraft and build their
strictly scriptural republic. Still earlier Thomas
Hooker, Samuel Stone, and John Warham led
the Connecticut colonists into the wilderness be-
cause they foresaw contention, strife, and evil days
before them if they were to be forced to conform
to the strict policy of Massachusetts.0 They pre-
ferred, unhindered, to plant and water the young
vine of a more democratic commonwealth. And
even as Massachusetts met with large troubles of

a Among the causes assigned for the removal of the Con-
necticut colonists were the discontent at Watertown over the
high-handed silencing by the Boston authorities of Pastor
Phillips and Teacher Brown for daring to assert that the
" churches of Rome were true churches ; " the early attempt
of the authorities to impose a general tax ; the continued op-
position to Ludlow ; their desire to oppose the Dutch seizure
of the fertile valley of the Connecticut ; their want of space
in the Bay Colony ; and the " strong bent of their spirits to
remove thither," i. e. to Connecticut.

78 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

her own, so smaller ones beset these other colo-
nies in their endeavor to preserve uniformity of
religious faith and practice. Until 1656, outside
of Massachusetts, sectarianism barely lifted its
head. Keligious contumacy was due to varying
opinions as to what should be the rule of the
churches and the privileges of their members.
As the churches held theoretically that each was
a complete, independent, and self-governing unit,
their practice and teaching concerning their
powers and duties began to show considerable
variation. Such variation was unsatisfactory, and
so decidedly so that the leaders of opinion in the
four colonies early began to feel the need of some
common platform, some authoritative standard
of church government, such as was agreed upon
later in the Cambridge Platform of 1648 and
in the Half-Way Covenant, a still later exposi-
tion or modification of Certain points in the Plat-
form.

The need for the Platform arose, also, from
two other causes : one purely colonial, and the
other Anglo-colonial. The first was, since every-
body had to attend public worship, the presence
in the congregations of outsiders as distinct from
church members. These outsiders demanded
broader terms of admission to holy privileges
and comforts. The second cause, Anglo-colonial

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 79

in nature, arose from the inter-communion of
colonial and English Puritan churches and from
the strength of the politico-ecclesiastical parties
in England. Whatever the outcome there, the
consequences to colonial life of the rapidly ap-
proaching climax in England, when, as we now
know, King was to give way to Commonwealth
and Presbyterianism find itself subordinate to
Independency, would be tremendous.

In the first twenty years of colonial life, great
changes had come over New England. Many
men of honest and Christian character — " sober
persons who professed themselves desirous of
renewing their baptismal covenant, and submit
unto church discipline, but who were unable to
come up to that experimental account of their
own regeneration which would sufficiently em-
bolden their access to the other sacrament "
(communion) 34 — felt that the early church
regulations, possible only in small communities
where each man knew his fellow, had been out-
grown, and that their retention favored the
growth of hypocrisy. The exacting oversight of
the churches in their " watch and ward " over
their members was unwelcome, and would not be
submitted to by many strangers who were flock-
ing into the colonies. The " experimental ac-
count " of religion demanded, as of old, a public

80 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

declaration or confession of the manner in which
conviction of sinfulness had come to each one ;
of the desire to put evil aside and to live in
accordance with God's commands as expressed
in Scripture and through the church to which the
repentant one promised obedience. This public
confession was a fundamental of Congregation-
alism. Other religious bodies have copied it;
but at the birth of Congregationalism, and for
centuries afterwards, the bulk of European
churches, like the Protestant Episcopal Church
to-day, regarded " Christian piety more as a
habit of life, formed under the training of child-
hood, and less as a marked spiritual change in
experience." 35

It followed that while many of the newcomers
in the colonies were indifferent to religion, by
far the larger number were not, and thought
that, as they had been members of the English
Established Church, they ought to be admitted
into full membership in the churches of Eng-
land's colonies. They felt, moreover, that the
religious training of their children was being
neglected because the New England churches
ignored the child whose parents would not, or
could not, submit to their terms of membership.
Still more strongly did these people feel neglected
and dissatisfied when, as the years went by, more

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 81

and more of them were emigrants who had been
acceptable members of the Puritan churches in
England. They continued to be refused religious
privileges because New England Congregation-
alism doubted the scriptural validity of letters
of dismissal from churches where the discipline
and church order varied from its own. Within
the membership of the New England churches
themselves, there was great uncertainty concern-
ing several church privileges, as, for instance,
how far infant baptism carried with it partici-
pation in church sacraments, and whether adults,
baptized in infancy, who had failed to unite with
the church by signing the Covenant, could have
their children baptized into the church. Con-
siderations of church-membership and baptism,
for which the Cambridge Synod of 1648 was
summoned, were destined, because of political
events in England, to be thrust aside and to
wait another eight years for their solution in
that conference which framed the Half- Way
Covenant as supplementary to the Cambridge
Platform of faith and discipline.

What has been termed the Anglo-colonial
cause for summoning the Cambridge Synod finds
explanation in the frequent questions and de-
mands which English Independency put to the
New England churches concerning church usage

82 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

and discipline, and in the intense interest with
which New England waited the outcome of the
constitutional struggle in England between
King and Parliament.

When the great controversy broke out in Eng-
land between Presbyterians and Independents,
the fortunes of Massachusetts (who felt every
wave of the struggle) and of New England were
in the balance. Presbyterians in England pro-
claimed the doctrine of church unity, and of
coercion if necessary, to procure it ; the Inde-
pendents, the doctrine of toleration. Puritans,
inclining to Presbyterianism, were disturbed over
reports from the colonies, and letters of inquiry
were sent and answers returned explaining that,
while the internal polity of the New England
churches was not far removed from Presbyteri-
anism, they differed widely from the Presby-
terian standard as to a national church and as
to the power of synods over churches, and that
they also held to a much larger liberty in the
right of each church to appoint its officers and
control its own internal affairs. At the opening
of the Long Parliament (1640-1644), many
emigrants had returned to England from the
colonies, and, under the leadership of the influ-
ential Hugh Peters, had given such an impetus
to English thought that the Independent party

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 83

rose to political importance and made popular
the " New England Way." ° The success of the
Independents brought relief to Massachusetts,
yet it was tinctured with apprehension lest
" toleration " should be imposed upon her. The
signing of the " League and Covenant " with
England in 1643 by Scotland, the oath of the
Commons to support it, and the pledge "to
bring the churches of God in the three King-
doms to the nearest conjunction and uniformity
in religion, confession of faith, form of church
government and catechizing " (including punish-
ment of malignants and opponents of reforma-
tion in Church and State), carried menace to
the colonies and to Massachusetts in particular.
The supremacy of Scotch or English Noncon-
formity meant a severity toward any variation

a The New England Way discarded the liturgy; refused
to accept the sacrament or join in prayer after such an ' ' anti-
Christian form ; " limited communion to church members
approved by New England standards, or coming with creden-
tials from churches similarly approved ; limited the ministerial
office, outside the pastor's own church, to prayer and confer-
ence, denying all authority ; and assumed as the right of each
church the power of elections, admissions, dismissals, censures,
and excommunications. The result, in that day of intense
championship of religious polity and custom, was to create
disturbance and discord among the English Independent
churches. The correspondence between the divines of New
England and old England was in part to avoid the ' ' breaking
up of churches."

84 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

from its Presbyterianism as great as Laud had
exercised.0

In 1643 Parliament convened one hundred
and fifty members b in the Westminster Assem-
bly to plan the reform of the Church of Eng-
land. Their business was to formulate a Con-

« J. R. Green, Short Hist, of the English People, 534-538. The
great popular signing of the Covenant in Scotland was in 1638.

b The original intention, in 1642, in regard to the composi-
tion of the Westminster Assembly was to have noted divines
from abroad. It was proposed to invite Rev. John Cotton,
Thomas Hooker, and John Davenport from New England.
Rev. Thomas Hooker thought the subject was not one of
sufficient ecclesiastical importance for so long and difficult a
journey, while the Rev. John Davenport could not be spared
because of the absence of other church officers from New
Haven. — H. M. Dexter, Congr. as seen, etc., p. 653.

Congregationalists or Independents in the sittings of the
Assembly pleaded for liberty of conscience to all sects, " pro-
vided that they did not trouble the public peace." (Later,
Congregationalists differentiated themselves from the Inde-
pendents by adding to the principle of the independence of
the local church the principle of the local sisterhood of the
churches.) In the Assembly, averaging sixty or eighty mem-
bers, Congregationalism was represented by but five influen-
tial divines and a few of lesser importance. There were also
among the members some thirty laymen. The Assembly
held eleven hundred and sixty-three sittings, continuing for
a period of five years and six months. During these years the
Civil War was fought ; the King executed ; the Commonwealth
established with its modified state-church, Presbyterian in
character. Intolerance was held in check by the power of
Cromwell and of the army, for the Independents had made
early and successful efforts to win the soldiery to their stan-
dard. — Philip Schaff , Creeds of Christendom, 727-820.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 85

fession which should dictate to all Englishmen
what they should believe and how express it,
and should also define a Church, which, preserv-
ing the inherent English idea of its relation to
the State, should bear a close likeness to the
Keformed churches of the Continent and yet
approach as nearly as possible both to the then
Church of Scotland and to the English Church
of the time of Elizabeth. The work of this as-
sembly, known as the Westminster Confession,
demonstrated to the New England colonists the
weakness of their church system and the need
among them of religious unity ,a

Many among the colonists doubted the advisa-
bility of a church platform, considering it per-
missible as a declaration of faith, but of doubtful
value if its articles were to be authoritative as a
binding rule of faith and practice without " add-
ing, altering, or omitting." Men of this mind
waited for controversial writings,6 to clear up

« W. Walker, Creeds and Platforms, p. 136, note 2.

6 The New England Way defended its changes from Eng-
lish custom under three heads : (1) That things, inexpedient
hut not utterly unlawful in England, became under changed
conditions sinful in New England. (2) Things tolerated in
England, because unremovable, were shameful in the new land
where they were removable. (3) Many things, upon mature
deliberation and tried by Scripture, were found to be sinful.
But : ' ' W« profess unf eignedly we separate from the corrup-
tions, which we conceive to be left in your Churches, and

86 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

misconception and misrepresentation in England,
but they waited in vain. Moreover, the Puritan
Board of Commissioners for Plantations of 1643
threatened as close an oversight and as rigid
control of colonial affairs from a Presbyterian
Parliament as had been feared from the King.

from such Ordinances administered therein as we feare are
not of God but of men ; and for yourselves, we are so farre
from separating- as visible Christians as that you are under
God in our hearts (if the Lord would suffer it) to live and
die together ; and we look at sundrie of you as men of that
eminent growth in Christiauitie, that if there be any visible
Christians under heaven, amongst you are the men, which for
tbese many years have been written in your forehead ( ' Holi-
ness to the Lord ' ) : and this is not to the disparagement of our-
selves or our practice, for we believe that the Church moves
on from age to age, its defects giving way to increasing purity
from reformation to reformation." — J. Davenport, The Epistle
Beturned, or the Answer to the Letter of Many Ministers.

A number of treatises upon church government and usage
were printed in the memorable year 1643, several of which
had previously circulated in manuscript. In 1637 was re-
ceived the Letter of Many Ministers in Old England, request-
ing the Judgment of their Reverend Brethren in New England
and concerning Nine Positions. It was answered by John
Davenport in 1639. A Beply and Answer was also a part of
this correspondence, which was first published in 1643, as
was also Richard Mather's Church Government and Church Cov-
enant Discussed, the latter being a reply to Two and Thirty
Questions sent from England. By these, together with J.
Cotton's Keyes and other writings, and by Thomas Hooker's
great work Survey of the Summe of Church Discipline (approved
by the Synod of 1643), every aspect of church polity and
usage was covered.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 87

Furthermore, a Presbyterian cabal in Plymouth
and Massachusetts, 1644-1646, gathered to it
the discontent of large numbers of unfranchised
residents within the latter colony, and under
threat of an appeal to Parliament boldly asked
for the ballot and for church privileges. In view
of these developments, nearly all the colonial
churches, though with some hesitation, united
in the Synod of Cambridge, which was origi-
nally called for the year 1646.

In the calling of the synod Massachusetts
took the lead. Several years before, in 1643,
the four colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts,
Connecticut, and New Haven had united in the
New England Confederacy, or " Confederacy of
the United Colonies," for mutual advantage in re-
sisting the encroachments of the Dutch, French,
and Indians, and for " preserving and propagat-
ing the truth and liberties of the gospel." In
the confederacy, Massachusetts and Connecticut
soon became the leaders. Considering how much
more strongly the former felt the pulsations of
English political life, and how active were the
Massachusetts divines as expositors of the " New
England way of the churches," the Bay Colony
naturally took the initiative in calling the Cam-
bridge Synod. But mindful of the opposition
to her previous autocratic summons, her General

88 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Court framed its call as a " desire " that minis-
terial, together with lay delegates, from all the
churches of New England should meet at Cam-
bridge. There, representing the churches, and
in accordance with the earliest teachings of Con-
gregationalism, they were to meet in synod " for
sisterly advice and counsel." They were to for-
mulate the practice of the churches in regard
to baptism and adult privileges, and to do so
" for the confirming of the weak among ourselves
and the stopping of the mouths of our adversa-
ries abroad." During the two years of unavoid-
able delay before the synod met in final session,
these topics, which were expected to be foremost
in the conference, were constantly in the public
mind. Through this wide discussion, the long
delay brought much good. It brought also mis-
fortune in the death of Thomas Hooker in 1647,
and by it loss of one of the great lights and
most liberal minds in the proposed conference.
Nearly all the colonial churches a were repre-

a Hingham church preferred the Presbyterian way. Con-
cord was absent, lacking a fit representative. Boston and Sa-
lem at first refused to attend, questioning the General Court's
right to summon a synod and fearing lest such a summons
should involve the obedience of all the represented churches to
the decisions of the conference. The modification of the sum-
mons to the " desire " of the court, and the entreaty of their
leaders, finally overcame the opposition in these churches. In

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 89

sented in the synod. When, during its session,
news was received that Cromwell was supreme
in England, its members turned from the dis-
cussion of baptism and church-membership to a
consideration of what should be the constitution
of the churches. The supremacy of Cromwell
and of the Independents who filled his armies
cleared the political background. All danger of
enforced Presbyterianism was over. The strength
of the Presbyterian malcontents, who had sought
to bring Massachusetts and New England into
disrepute in England, was broken. Since the
colonists were free to order their religious life as
they pleased, the Cambridge Synod turned aside
from its purposed task to formulate a larger
platform of faith and polity.

When the Cambridge Synod adjourned, the
orthodoxy of the New England churches could
not be impugned. In all matters of faith " for
the substance thereof " they accepted the West-
fact, delegates to the Court, representing at least thirty or
forty churches, had hesitated to accept the original summons
of the Court when reported as a hill for calling the synod.
Although the Court " made no question of their lawful power
hy the word of God to assemble the churches, or their mes-
sengers upon occasion of counsell, or anything which may
concern the practice of the churches," it decided to modify
the phrasing of the order. — H. M. Dexter, Congr. as seen,
p. 436. Magnalia, ii, 209. Mass. Col. Bee. ii, 154-156, also
iii, 70-73.

90 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

minster Confession of Faith, but from its mea-
sures of government and discipline they differed.3
This Cambridge Platform was more important
as recognizing the independence of the churches
and the authority of custom among them than as
formulating a creed. It governed the New Eng-
land churches for sixty years, or until Massachu-
setts and Connecticut Congregationalism came
to the parting of the way, whence one was to
develop its associated system of church govern-
ment, and the other its consociated system as set
forth in the Saybrook Platform, formulated at
Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1708. Meanwhile, the
Cambridge Platform b gave all the New England

° " This Synod having perused with much gladness of heart
the confession of faith published by the late reverend assembly
in England, do judge it to be very holy, orthodox and judicious,
in all matters of faith, and do hereby freely and fully consent
thereto for the substance thereof. Only in those things which
have respect to church-government and discipline, we refer
ourselves to the Platform of Church-discipline, agreed upon
by this present assembly." — Preface to the Cambridge Plat-
form, quoted in W. Walker, Creeds and Platforms, p. 195.

6 In many parts the wording of the Platform is almost iden-
tical with passages from the foremost ecclesiastical treatises
of the period, and, naturally, since John Cotton, Richard
Mather, and Ralph Partridge were each requested to draft a
"Scriptural Model of Church Government." The Platform
conformed most closely to that of Richard Mather. The draft
by Ralph Partridge of Plymouth still exists. Obviously, the
Separatist clergyman did not emphasize so strongly the rule
of the eldership which New England church life in general had

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 91

churches a standard by which to regulate their
practice and to resist change."

A study of the Platform yields the following
brief summary of its cardinal points : —

(a) The Congregational church is not " Na-
tional, Provincial or Classical," b but is a church
of a covenanted brotherhood, wherein each mem-
ber makes public acknowledgment of spiritual
regeneration and declares his purpose to submit
himself to the ordinances of God and of his
church.0 A slight concession was made to the
liberal church party and to the popular demand
for broader terms of membership in the pro-
vision for those of "the weakest measure of
faith," and in the substitution of a written ac-
count of their Christian experience by those who
were ill or timid. This written " experimental
account " was to be read to the church by one
of the elders. In the words of the Platform,

developed. Otherwise his plan did not differ essentially from
that of Mather.

a " Even now, after a lapse of more than two hundred years
the Platform (notwithstanding- its errors here and there in the
application of proof texts, and its one great error in regard
to the power of the civil magistrate in matters of religion) is
the most authentic exposition of the Congregational church as
given in the scriptures." — Leonard Bacon, in Contributions to
the Ecclesiastical History of Connecticut, ed. of 1865, p. 15.

b Cambridge Platform, chap. ii.

c Ibid. chap. ii.

92 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

" Such charity and tenderness is to be used, as
the weakest Christian if sincere, may not be ex-
cluded or discouraged. Severity of examination
is to be avoided." a

(b) The officers of the church are elders and
deacons, the former including, as of old, pastors,
teachers, and ruling elders. That the authority
within the church had passed from the unre-
strained democracy of the early Plymouth Sepa-
ratists to a silent democracy before the command
of a speaking aristocracy6 is witnessed to by the
Platform's declaration that " power of office " is
proper to the elders, while "power of privilege" c
belongs to the brethren. In other words, the
brethren or membership have a " second " and
" indirect power," according to which they are
privileged to elect their elders. Thereafter those
officers possess the " direct power," or author-
ity, to govern the church as they see fit.d In the

a Cambridge Platform, chap. iii.

b The definition of the rule of the elders, given by the Rev.
Samuel Stone of Hartford, was " A speaking aristocracy in
the face of a silent democracy."

c Cambridge Platform, chaps, iv-x.

d " We do believe that Christ hath ordained that there
should be a Presbytery or Eldership and that in every Church,
whose work is to teach and rule the Church by the Word and
laws of Christ and unto whom so teaching and ruling, all the
people ought to be obedient and submit themselves. And
therefore a Government merely Popular or Democratical . . .
is far from the practice of these Churches and we believe far

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 93

matter of admission, dismission, censure, excom-
munication, or re-admission of members, the
brotherhood of the church may express their
opinion by vote.0 In cases of censure and ex-
communication, the Platform specifies that the
offender could be made to suffer only through
deprivation of his church rights and not through
any loss of his civil ones.& In the discussion of
this point, the more liberal policy of Connecticut
and Plymouth prevailed.

(c) In regard to pastors and teachers, the
Platform affirms that they are such only by
the right of election and remain such only so

from the mind of Christ." However, the brethren should not
be wholly excluded from its government or its liberty to
choose its officers, admit members and censure offenders. —
R. Mather, Church Government and Church Covenant Discussed,
pp. 47-50.

" The Gospel alloweth no Church authority or rule ( properly
so called) to the Brethren but reserveth that wholly to the
Elders ; and yet preventeth tyrannee, and oligarchy, and ex-
orbitancy of the Elders by the large and firm establishment of
the liberties of the Brethren." — J. Cotton, The Keys of the
Kingdom of Heaven, p. 12.

" In regard to Christ, the head, the government of the
Church, is sovereign and Monarchicall : In regard to the rule
of the Presbytery, it is stewardly and Aristocraticall : In regard
to the people's power in elections and censures, it is Demo-
craticall." — The Keys, p. 36 ; see also Church-Government and
Church Covenant, pp. 51-53.

a Cambridge Platform, chap. x.

6 Ibid. chap. xiv.

94 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

long as they preside over the church by which
they were elected."

Their ordination after election, as well as that
of the ruling elders and deacons, is to be by the
laying on of hands of the elders of the church
electing them. In default of elders, this ordina-
tion is to be by the hands of brethren whom be-
cause of their exemplary lives the church shall
choose to perform the rite.6 A new provision was
also made, one leaning toward Presbyterianism,
whereby elders of other churches could perform
this ceremony, " when there were no elders and
the church so desired."

(d) Church maintenance, amounting to a
church tax, was insisted upon not only from
church-members but from all, since " all that are
taught in the word, are to contribute unto him
that teacheth." If necessary, because corrupt
men creep into the congregations and church
contributions cannot be collected, the magistrate
is to see to it that the church does not suffer.0

(e) The Platform defined the intercommun-
ion of the churches d upon such broad lines as
to admit of sympathetic fellowship even when
slight differences existed in local customs. In
so important a matter as when an offending

a Cambridge Platform, chap. ix. b Ibid. chap. ix.

c Ibid. chap. xi. (l Ibid. chap. xv.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 95

elder was to be removed, consultation with other
churches was commanded before action should
be taken against him. The intercommunion of
churches was defined as of various kinds : as for
mutual welfare ; for sisterly advice and consulta-
tion, in cases of public offense, where the offending
church was unconscious of fault ; for recom-
mendation of members going from one church to
another ; for need, relief, or succor of unfortunate
churches ; and " by way of propagation," when
over-populous churches were to be divided.

(f) Concerning synods,a the Platform asserts
that they are " necessary to the well-being of
churches for the establishment of truth and
peace therein ; " that they are to consist of elders,
or ministerial delegates, and also of lay delegates,
or " messengers ; " that their function is to de-
termine controversies over questions of faith, to
debate matters of general interest, to guide and
to express judgment upon churches, "rent by
discord or lying under open scandal." Synods
could be called by the churches, and also by the
magistrates through an order to the churches to
send their elders and messengers, but they were
not to be permanent bodies. On the contrary,
unlike the synods of the Presbyterian system,
they were to be disbanded when the work of the

a Cambridge Platform, chap. xvi.

96 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

special session for which they were summoned
was finished. Moreover, they were not " to ex-
ercise church censure in the way of discipline
nor any other act of authority or jurisdiction ; "
yet their judgments were to be received, " so far
as consonant to the word of God," since they
were judged to be an ordinance of God appointed
in his Word.

(g) The Platform's section "Of the Civil
Magistrate in matters Ecclesiastical " a maintains
that magistrates cannot compel subjects to be-
come church-members; that they ought not to
meddle with the proper work of officers of the
churches, but that they ought to see to it that
godliness is upheld, and the decrees of the church
obeyed. To accomplish these ends, they should
exert all the civil authority intrusted to them,
and their foremost duty was to put down blas-
phemy, idolatry, and heresy. In any question as
to what constituted the last, the magistrates
assisted by the elders were to decide and to de-
termine the measure of the crime. They were to
punish the heretic, not as one who errs in an
intellectual judgment, but as a moral leper and

a Cambridge Platform, chap. xvii.

According to Hooker's Survey the magistrates had the right
to summon synods because they have the right to command
the faculties of their subjects to deliberate concerning the
good of the State. — Survey, pt. iv, p. 54 et seq.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 97

for whose evil influence the community was re-
sponsible to God. The civil magistrates were
also to punish all profaners of the Sabbath, all
contemners of the ministry, all disturbers of
public worship, and to proceed " against schis-
matic or obstinately corrupt churches."

These seven points summarize the important
work of the Cambridge Synod and the Platform
wherein it embodied the church usage and fixed
the ecclesiastical customs of New England.
Concerning its own work, the Synod remarked
in conclusion that it "hopes that this will be
a' proof to the churches beyond the seas that the
New England churches are free from heresies
and from the character of schism," and that " in
the doctrinal part of religion they have agreed
entirely with the Reformed churches of Eng-
land." 36

Let us in a few sentences review the whole
story thus far of colonial Congregationalism.
With the exception of the churches of Plymouth
and Watertown, the colonists had come to Amer-
ica without any definite religious organization.
True, they had in their minds the example of
the Reformed churches on the Continent, and
much of theory, and many convictions as to what
ought to be the rule of churches. These theories
and these convictions soon crystallized out. And

98 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

the transatlantic crystallization was found to
yield results, some of which were very similar
to the modifications which time had wrought in
England upon the rough and embryonic forms
of Congregationalism as set forth by Eobert
Browne and Henry Barrowe. The character-
istics of Congregationalism during its first quar-
ter of a century upon New England soil were:
the clearly defined independence or self-govern-
ment of the local churches ; the fellowship of
the churches ; the development of large and
authoritative powers in the eldership ; a more
exact definition of the functions of synods, a
definite limitation of their authority ; and, finally,
a recognition of the authority of the civil magis-
trates in religious affairs generally, and of their
control in special cases arising within individual
churches. In the growing power of the eldership,
and in the provision of the Platform which per-
mits ordination by the hands of elders of other
churches, when a church had no elders and its
members so desired, there is a trend toward the
polity of the Presbyterian system. In the Plat-
form's definition of the power of the magistrates
over the religious life of the community, there
is evident the colonists' conviction that, not-
withstanding the vaunted independence of the
churches, there ought to be some strong external

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 99

authority to uphold them and their discipline ;
some power to fall back upon, greater than
the censure of a single church or the combined
strength and influence derived from advisory
councils and unauthoritative synods. In Con-
necticut, this control by the civil power was to
increase side by side with the tendency to rely
upon advisory councils. From this twofold de-
velopment during a period of sixty years, there
arose the rigid autonomy of the later Saybrook
system of church-government, wherein the civil
authority surrendered to ecclesiastical courts its
supreme control of the churches.

Turning from the text of the Cambridge Plat-
form to its application, we find among the earli-
est churches " rent by discord," schismatically
corrupt, and to be disciplined according to its
provisions, that of Hartford, Connecticut. From
the earliest years of the Connecticut colony there
had been within it a large party, constantly in-
creasing, who, because they were unhappy and
aggrieved at having themselves and their chil-
dren shut out of the churches, had advocated
admitting all of moral life to the communion
table. The influence of Thomas Hooker kept
the discontent within bounds until his death in
1647, the year before the Cambridge Synod met.
Thereafter, the conservative and liberal factions

100 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

in many of the churches came quickly into open
conflict. The Hartford church in particular be-
came rent by dissension so great that neither the
counsel of neighboring churches nor the com-
mands of the General Court, legislating in the
manner prescribed by the Cambridge instrument,
could heal the schism. The trouble in the Hart-
ford church arose because of a difference between
Mr. Stone, the minister, and Elder Goodwin,
who led the minority in their preference for a
candidate to assist their pastor. Before the dis-
covery of documents relating to the controversy,
it was the custom of earlier historians to refer
the dispute to political motives. But this church
feud, and the discussion which it created through-
out Connecticut, was purely religious, and had to
do with matters of church privileges and event-
ually with rights of baptism.0 The conflict origi-

n ' ' However the controversy of the Connecticut River
churches was embittered by political interests, it was essen-
tially nothing else than the fermentation of that leaven of
Presbyterianism which came over with the later Puritan emi-
gration, and which the Cambridge Platform, with all its expli-
citness in asserting the rules given by the Scriptures, had
not effectually purged." — L. Bacon, in Contrib. to Eccl. Hist,
of Conn., p. 17.

See also H. M. Dexter, Congr. as seen in Lit., pp. 46S-G9.

Of the twenty-one contemporaneous documents, by various
authors, none mention baptism as in any way an issue in
debate. " Dr. Trumbull probably touches the real root of
the affair when he speaks of the controversy as one concerning

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 101

nated through Mr. Stone's conception of his
ministerial authority, which belonged rather to
the period of his English training and which was
concisely set forth by his oft-quoted definition of
the rule of the elders as " a speaking aristocracy
in the face of a silent democracy."0 Mr. Stone
and Elder Goodwin, the two chief officers in the
Hartford church, each commanded* an influen-
tial following. Personal and political affiliations
added to the bitterness of party bias in the dis-
pute which raged over the following three ques-
tions : (a) What were the rights of the minority
in the election of a minister whom they were
obliged to support ? (b) What was the proper
mode of ecclesiastical redress if these rights were

the ' rights of the brotherhood,' and the conviction, entertained
by Mr. Goodwin, that these rights had been disregarded."
The question of baptism ran parallel with the question under
debate, incidentally mixed itself with and outlived it to be
the cause of a later quarrel that should split the church. —
G. L. Walker, First Church in Hartford, p. 154.

a Mr. Stone admitted : " (1) I acknowledge yl it is a liberty of
ye church to declare their apprehensions by vote about ye fit-
ness of a prson for office upon his tryall.

(2) "I look at it as a received truth yl an officer may in
some cases lawfully hinder ye church from putting forth at
this or y' time an act of her liberty.

(3) " I acknowledge y* I hindered y° church fro declaring
their apprehensions by vote (upon y° day in question) con-
cerning Mr. Wigglesworth's fitness for office in ye church of
Hartford." — Conn. Historical Society Papers, ii. 51-125.

102 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

ignored ? (c) What were those baptismal rights
and privileges which the Cambridge Platform
had not definitely settled ? The discussion of the
first two questions precipitated into the fore-
ground the still unanswered third. The turmoil
in the Hartford church continued for years and
was provocative of disturbances throughout the
colony. Accordingly, in May, 1G56, a petition
was presented to the General Court by persons
unknown, asking for broader baptismal privi-
leges. Moved by the appeal, the Court appointed
a committee, consisting of the governor, lieuten-
ant-governor and two deputies, to consult with
the elders of the churches and to draw up a series
of questions embodying the grievances which
were complained of throughout the colony as well
as in the Hartford church. The Court further
commanded that a copy of these questions be sent
to the General Courts of the other three colonies,
that they might consider them and advise Con-
necticut as to some method of putting an end to
ecclesiastical disputes. As Connecticut was not
the only colony having trouble of this sort, Mas-
sachusetts promptly ordered thirteen of her elders
to meet at Boston during the following summer,
and expressed a desire for the cooperation of the
churches of the confederated colonies. Plymouth
did not respond. New Haven rejected the pro-

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 103

posed conference. She feared that it would re-
sult in too great changes in church discipline
and, consequently, in her civil order, — changes
which she believed would endanger the peace and
purity of her churches ; a yet she sent an exposi-
tion, written by John Davenport, of the ques-
tions to be discussed. The Connecticut General
Court, glad of Massachusetts' appreciative sym-
pathy, appointed delegates, advising them to first
take counsel together concerning the questions
to be considered at Boston, and ordered them
upon their return to report to the Court.

The two questions which since the summoning
of the Cambridge Synod had been undgr discus-
sion throughout all New England were the right
of non-covenanting parishioners in the choice of
a minister, and the rights of children of baptized
parents, that had not been admitted to full mem-
bership. These were the main topics of discus-
sion in the Synod, or, more properly, Ministerial

a In the New Haven letter, she wrote, " We hear the peti-
tioners, or others closing1 with them, are very confident they
shall obtain great alterations both in civil government and
church discipline, and that some of them have procured and
hired one as their agent, to maintain in writing (as it is con-
ceived) that parishes in England, consenting to and continuing
their meetings to worship God, are true churches, and such
persons coming over thither, (without holding forth any work
of faith) have all right to church privileges." — New Haven
Col. Records, iii, 186.

104 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Convention, of 1657, which assembled in Boston,
and which decreed the Half -Way Covenant. The
Assembly decided in regard to baptism that
persons, who had been baptized in their infancy,
but who, upon arriving at maturity, had not
publicly professed their conversion and united in
full membership with the church, were not fit to
receive the Lord's Supper : —

Yet in case they understood the Grounds of Reli-
gion and are not scandalous, and solemnly own the
Covenant in their own persons," wherein they give
themselves and their own children unto the Lord, and
desire baptism for them, we (with due reverence to
any Godly Learned that may dissent) see not suffi-
cient cause to deny Baptism unto their children.87

Church care and oversight were to be extended
to such children. But in order to go to com-
munion, or to vote in church affairs, the old
personal, public profession that for so many
years had been indispensable to " signing the
covenant " was retained 38 and must still be
given.

This Half- Way Covenant, as it came to be
called, enlarged the terms of baptism and of
admission to church privileges as they had been
set forth in the Cambridge Platform. The new

" That is, they assent to the main truths of the Gospel and
promise obedience to the church they desire to join.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 105

measure held within itself a contradiction to the
foundation principle of Congregationalism. A
dual membership was introduced by this attempt
to harmonize the Old Testament promise, that
God's covenant was with Abraham and his seed
forever, with the Congregational type of church
which the New Testament was believed to set
forth. The former theory must imply some mea-
sure of true faith in the children of baptized
parents, whether or no they had fulfilled their
duty by making public profession and by uniting
with the church. This duty was so much a
matter of course with the first colonists, and so
deeply ingrained was their loyalty to the faith
and practice which one generation inherited from
another, that it never occurred to them that
future descendants of theirs might view differ-
ently these obligations of church membership.
But a difficulty arose later when the adult obli-
gation implied by baptism in infancy ceased to
be met, and when the question had to be settled
of how far the parents' measure of faith carried
grace with it. Did the inheritance of faith, of
which baptism was the sign and seal, stop with
the children, or with the grandchildren, or where ?
To push the theory of inherited rights would re-
sult eventually in destroying the covenant church,
bringing in its stead a national church of mixed

106 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

membership ; to press the original requirements
of the covenant upon an unwilling people would
lessen the membership of the churches, expose
them to hostile attack, and to possible overthrow.
The colonists compromised upon this dual mem-
bership of the Half- Way Covenant. As its full
significance did not become apparent for years,
the work of the Synod of 1657 was generally
acceptable to the ministry, but it met with oppo-
sition among the older laity. It was welcomed
in Connecticut, where Henry Smith of Wethers-
field as early as 1647, Samuel Stone of Hartford
after 1650, and John Warham of Windsor, had
been earnest advocates of its enlarged terms.
As early as in his draft of the Cambridge Plat-
form, Ralph Partridge of Duxbury in Plymouth
colony had incorporated similar changes, and
even then they had been seconded by Richard
Mather.0 They had been omitted from the final
draft of that Platform because of the opposition

a Among Massachusetts clergymen, Thomas Allen of
Charlestown, 1642, Thomas Shepherd, Cambridge, 1049, John
Norton, Ipswich, 1653, held that the haptismal privileges
should be widened, and John Cotton himself was slowly drift-
ing toward this opinion.

The Windsor church was the first in Connecticut to practice
the Half- Way Covenant, January 31, 1657-58, to March 10,
JCit; 1-65, when the pastor, having doubts as to its validity, dis-
continued the practice until 1668, when it was again resumed.
— Stiles, Ancient Windsor, p. 172.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 107

of a small but influential group led by the Rev.
Charles Chauncey. As early as 1650, it had be-
come evident that public opinion was favorable
to such a change, and that some church would
soon begin to put in practice a theory which was
held by so many leading divines. Though the
Half -Way Covenant was strenuously opposed by
the New Haven colony as a whole, Peter Prudden,
its second ablest minister, had, as early as 1651,
avowed his earnest support of such a mea-
sure.

The Half- Way Covenant was presented to
the Connecticut General Court, August, 1657.
Orders were at once given that copies of it
should be distributed to all the churches with
a request for a statement of any exceptions
that any of them might have to it. None are
known to have been returned. This was not due
to any great unanimity of sentiment among the
churches, for in Connecticut, as elsewhere, many
of the older church-members were not so liberally
inclined as their ministers, and were loth to
follow their lead in this new departure. But
when controversy broke out again in the Hart-
ford church, in 1666, because of the baptism of
some children, it was found that in the inter-
val of eleven years those who favored the Half-
Way covenant had increased in numbers in the

108 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

church,0 and were rapidly gaining throughout
the colony, especially in its northern half. By
the absorption of the New Haven Colony, its
southern boundary in 1664 had become the shore
of Long Island Sound.

Though public opinion favored the Half-Way
Covenant, the practice of the churches was
controlled by their exclusive membership), and,
unless a majority thereof approved the new way,
there was nothing to compel the church to
broaden its baptismal privileges.6 This differ-
ence between public opinion and church practice,
between the congregations and the coterie of
church members, was provocative of clashing
interests and of factional strife. For several

a Stone held his party on the ground that over a matter of
internal discipline a synod had no control, and that he could
exercise Congregational discipline upon any seceders. The im-
mediate result was the removal of the discontented to Boston
or to Hadley ; where, however, they could not be admitted to
another church until Stone had released them from his. This
he refused to do. Thus, he showed the power of a minister,
when backed by a majority, to inflict virtual excommunica-
tion. This could be done even though his authority was open
to question. — J. A. Doyle, Puritan Colonies, ii, p. 77.

b Meanwhile the Massachusetts Synod (purely local) of
1062 stood seven to one in favor of the Half-Way Covenant
practice, and had reaffirmed the fellowship of the churches
according to the synodical terms of the Cambridge Platform,
as against a more authoritative system of consociation, pro-
posed by Thomas Shepherd of Cambridge.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 109

years these factional differences were held in
check and made subordinate to the urgent politi-
cal situation which the restoration of the Stuarts
had precipitated, and which demanded harmoni-
ous action among the colonists. A royal charter
had to be obtained, and when obtained, it gave
Connecticut dominion over the New Haven col-
ony. The lower colony had to be reconciled to
its loss of independence, in so much as the gov-
erning party, with its influential following of
conservatives, objected to the consolidation. The
liberals, a much larger party numerically, pre-
ferred to come under the authority of Connecti-
cut and to enjoy her less restrictive church policy
and her broader political life. Matters were
finally adjusted, and delegates from the old New
Haven colony first took their seats as members
of the General Court of Connecticut at the
spring session of 1665. Thereafter, in Connect-
icut history, especially its religious history, the
strain of liberalism most often follows the old
lines of the Connecticut colony, while that of
conservatism is more often met with as reflect-
ing the opinions of those within the former
boundaries of that of New Haven.

It was in the year following the union of the
two colonies that the quarrel in the Hartford
church broke out afresh. The fall preceding the

110 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

consolidation of the colonies, an appeal was
made to the Connecticut General Court which
helped to swell the dissatisfaction in the Hart-
ford church and to bring it to the bursting point.
In October, 1664, William Pitkin, by birth a
member of the English Established Church a and
a man much 'esteemed in the colony, as shown,
politically, by his office of attorney,39 and socially
by his marriage with Elder Goodwin's daughter,
petitioned the General Court in behalf of him-
self and six associates that it —

would take into serious consideration our present state
in this respect that wee are thus as sheep scattered
haveing no shepheard, and compare it with what wee
conceive you can not but know both God and our
King would have it different from what it now is.
And take some speedy and effectual course of redress
herein, And put us in full and free capacity of in joy-
ing those forementioned Advantages which to us as
members of Christ's visible Church doe of right be-
long. By establishing some wholesome Law in this

° It must be remembered that the " Church of England
meant the aggregate of English Christians, whether in the up-
shot of the movements which were going on (1G30-16G0), their
polity should turn out to be Episcopal or Presbyterian, or some-
thing different from either." — Palfrey, Comprehensive Hist,
of New England, i, p. 111. J. R. Green, Short Hist, of the
Eng. People, p. 544.

In England, Pitkin had been a member of the church of the
Commonwealth, and in all probability was not an Episcopalian
or Church-of-England man in the usual sense.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT

111

Corporation by vertue whereof wee may both clame
and receive of such officers as are, or shall be by
Law set over us in the Church or churches where wee
have our abode or residence those forementioned
privileges and advantages.

Further wee humbly request that for the future no
Law in this corporation may be of any force to make
us pay or contribute to the maintenance of any Min-
ister or officer in the Church that will neglect or re-
fuse to baptize our Children, and to take charge of
us as of such members of the Church as are under
his or their charge and care —

Signed —
Admitted freeman

Oct. 9th, 1662,
Admitted freeman

May 21, 1657,
Admitted freeman

May 18, 1654,

Hartford, Wm. Pitkin.

Windsor, Michael Humphrey.

Hartford,
Windsor,

Admitted freeman
May 20, 1658,

Admitted freeman
May 20, 1658,

Windsor,

John Stedman.
James Eno.

Robart Reeve.
John Morse.

Jonas Westover. 40

Windsor,

Eno and Humphrey had been complained of
because their insistence upon what they consid-
ered their rights had caused disturbance in the
Windsor church. Now, with the other petition-
ers, they based their appeal in part upon the

112 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

King's Letter to the Bay Colony of June 2Gth,
1662, wherein Charles commanded that " all
persons of good and honest lives and conversa-
tion be admitted to the sacrament of the Lord's
supper, according to the said book of common
prayer, and their children to baptism."

This petition of Pitkin and his associates was
the first notable expression of dissatisfaction
with the Congregationalism of Connecticut.
Several Episcopal writers have quoted it as the
first appeal of Churchmen in Connecticut. In
itself, it forbids such construction. The peti-
tioners had come from England and from the
church of the Commonwealth. They were asking
either for toleration in the spirit of the Half-
Way Covenant or for some special legislation in
their behalf. Further, they were demanding reli-
gious care and baptism for their children from a
clergy who, from the point of view of any strict
Episcopalian, had no right to officiate ; and,
again, it was nearly ten years before the first
Church-of-England men found their way to
Stratford.41

The Court made reply to Pitkin's petition by
sending to all the churches a request that they
consider —

whither it be not their duty to entertaine all sucli
persons, who are of honest and godly conuersation,

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 113

hauing a competency of knowledge in the principles
of religion, and shall desire to joyne with them in
church fellowship, by an explicitt couenant, and that
they haue their children baptized, and that all the
children of the church be accepted and accotd reall
members of the church and that the church exercise
a due christian care and watch ouer them ; and that
when they are grown up, being examined by the offi-
cer in the presence of the church, it appeares in the
judgment of charity, they are duly qualified to parti-
cipate in the great ordinance of the Lord's Supper, by
their being able to examine and discerne the Lord's
body, such persons be admitted to full comunion.

The Court desires y* the seuerall officers of ye re-
spectiue churches, would be pleased to consider whither
it be the duty of the Court to order churches to prac-
tice according to the premises, if they doe not practice
without such an order.42

The issue was now fairly before the churches
of the colony. The delegates of the people had
expressed the opinion of the majority. The Court
had invited the expression of any dissent that
might exist, yet, despite the invitation, it had is-
sued almost an order to the churches to practice
the Half- Way Covenant, and with large interpre-
tation, applying it, not only to the baptism of
children who had been born of parents baptized
in the colonial church, but also to those whose
parents had been baptized in the English com-

114 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

munion, at least during the Commonwealth.0
Pitkin at once proceeded in behalf of himself and
several of his companions to apply for " com-
munion with the church of Hartford in all the
ordinances of Christ." 43 This the church refused,
and wrought its factions up to white heat over
the baptism of some child or children of non-com-
municants. The storm broke. Other churches
felt its effects. Windsor church was rent by
faction, Stratford was in turmoil over the Half-
Way Covenant, and other churches were divided.
Some means had to be found to put an end to
the increasing disorder. Accordingly the Court
in October, 1666, commanded the presence of
all the preaching elders and ministers within
the colony at a synod to find " some way or
means to bring those ecclesiastical matters that
are in difference in the severall Plantations to
an issue." The Court felt obliged to change the
name of the appointed meeting from "synod" to
" assembly " to avoid the jealousy of the churches.
They were afraid that the civil power would over-
step its authority, and by calling a synod, com-

a Such an order could only produce futher disturbance. Strat-
ford and Norwalk protested. As a rule the order was most
unwelcome in the recently acquired New Haven colony. Mr.
Pierson of Branford, with some of the conservative church
people of Guilford and New Haven, went to New Jersey to
its consequences.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 115

posed of elders only, establish a precedent for
the exclusion of lay delegates from such bodies.
Before this " assembly " could meet, it was shorn
of influence through the politics of the conservative
Hartford faction, who succeeded in passing a bill
at the session of the Commissioners of the United
Colonies, which read : —

That in matters of common concern of faith or
order necessitating a Synod, it should be a Synod
composed of messengers from all the colonies.44

Accordingly, Connecticut's next step was to
invite Massachusetts to join in a synod to debate
seventeen questions of which several had been
submitted to the Synod of 1657, and had re-
mained unanswered. Among them were the
questions of the right to vote in the choice of
minister ; of minority rights ; and where to ap-
peal in cases of censure believed to be unmer-
ited." Massachusetts courteously replied that the

« Among the questions, still unanswered, which had been
submitted in 1657 were : (9) " Whether it doth belong- to the
body of a town, collectively taken, jointly, to call him to be
their minister whom the church shall choose to be their officer."
(13) "Whether the church, her invitation and election of an
officer, or preaching elder, necessitates the whole congregation
to sit down satisfied, as bound to accept him as their minister
though invited and settled without the town's consent." (11)
" Unto whom shall such persons repair who are grieved by any
church process or censure, or whether they must acquiesce in

116 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

questions would be considered if submitted in
writing ; but she was at heart so indifferent that
negotiations for a colonial synod lapsed, and Con-
necticut was left to adjust the differences in her
churches. Consequently, in May, 1668, the
Court, —

for promoting and establishing peace in the churches
and plantations because of various apprehensions in
matters of discipline respecting membership and bap-
tism, —

appointed a committee of influential men in the
colony to search out the rules for discipline and
see how far persons of " various apprehensions "
could walk together in church fellowship. This
committee reported at the October session, and
the Court, after accepting their decision, formally
declared the Congregational church established
and its older customs approved, asserting that —

Whereas the Congregationall churches in these
partes for the generall of their profession and practice
have hitherto been approued, we can doe no less than
still approue and countenance the same to be without
disturbance until a better light in an orderly way doth
appeare ; but yet foreasmuch as sundry persons of
worth for prudence and piety amongst us are other-
wise perswaded (whose welfare and peaceable satis-

the churches under which they belong." — Trumbull, Hist, of
Conn, i, 302-8.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 117

faction we desire to accommodate) This Court doth
declare that all such persons being also approued to
lawe as orthodox and sound in the fundamentals of
Christian religion may haue allowance of their per-
swasion and profession in church wayes or assemblies
wthout disturbance.

The liberal church party had won the privi-
leges for which they had contended, but the
conservatives were not beaten, for it was upon
their conception of church government that the
Court set its seal of approval. The Court had
been tolerant, and the churches must be also.
Upon such terms, the old order was to continue
" until a better light should appear." The tol-
erance toward changing conditions, thus ex-
pressed, was further emphasized by the Court's
command to the churches to accept into full mem-
bership certain worthy people who could not bring
themselves to agree fully with all the old order
had demanded. The second part of the enactment
just quoted was, strictly speaking, Connecticut's
first toleration act ; yet it must be realized that
now, as later, the degree of toleration admitted
no release from the support of an unacceptable
ministry or from fines for neglect of its ministra-
tions. Tolerance was here extended not to dis-
senters, but only to varying shades of opinions
within a common faith and fold.

118 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

In the spirit of such legislation, the Court ad-
vised the Hartford church to " walk apart." The
advice was accepted, the church divided, and the
members who went out reorganized as the Second
Church of Hartford. Other discordant churches
quickly followed this example. The Second
Church of Hartford immediately put forth a de-
claration, asserting that its Congregationalism
was that of the old original New England type.
The force of public opinion was so great, how-
ever, that despite its declaration, the Second
Church began at once to accept the Half -Way
Covenant. " The only result of their profession
was to give a momentary name to the struggle
as between Congregationalist and Presbyte-
rian."45 It was no effective opposition to the
onward development in Connecticut of the new
order. When the churches found that neither
the old nor the new way was to be insisted upon,
the violence of faction ceased. The dual member-
ship was accepted. For a while, its line of cleav-
age away from the old system, with its local
church "as a covenanted brotherhood of souls
renewed by the experience of God's grace," was
not realized, any more than that the new system
was merging the older type of church " into the
parish where all persons of good moral character,
living within the parochial bounds, were to have,

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 119

as in England and Scotland, the privilege of
baptism for their households and of access to the
Lord's table." 46 Another move in this direction
was taken when the splitting off of churches, and
the forming of more than one within the original
parish bounds, necessitated a further departure
from the principles of Congregationalism, and
when the sequestration of lands for the benefit
of clergy became a feature of the new order.47
In this formation of new churches, the oldest
parish was always the First Society.0 Those
formed later did not destroy it or affect its ante-
cedent agreements.48 Only sixty-six years had
passed (1603-1669) since the publication of the
" Points of Difference " between the Separatists,
the London-Amsterdam exiles, and the Church
of England, wherein insistence had been laid
upon the principles of a covenanted church, of
its voluntary support, and of the unrighteousness
of churches possessing either lands or revenue !
The pendulum had swung from the broad demo-
cracy and large liberty of Brownism through

a In New England Congregationalism, the church and the
ecclesiastical society were separate and distinct bodies. The
church kept the records of births, deaths, marriage, baptism,
and membership, and, outside these, confined itself to spiritual
matters ; the society dealt with all temporal affairs such as the
care and control of all church property, the payment of min-
isters' salaries, and also their calling, settlement, and dismissal.

120 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT

Barrowism, past the Cambridge Platform (al-
most the centre of its arc), and on through the
Half -Way Covenant to the beginning of a parish
system. It had still farther to swing before it
reached the end of the arc, marked by the Say-
brook Platform, and before it began its slower
return movement, to rest at last in the Congrega-
tionalism of the past seventy years.

CHAPTER V

A PERIOD OF TRANSITION

Alas for piety, alas for the ancient faith!

Though Massachusetts had been indifferent
and had left Connecticut to work out, unaided,
her religious problem, the two colonies were by
no means unfriendly, and in each there was a
large conservative party mutually sympathetic in
their church interests. The drift of the liberal
party in each colony was apart. The homogeneity
of the Connecticut people put off for a long
while the embroilments, civil and religious, to
which Massachusetts was frequently exposed
through her attempts to restrain, restrict, and
force into an inflexible mould her population,
which was steadily becoming more numerous and
cosmopolite. The English government received
frequent complaints about the Bay Colony, and,
as a result, Connecticut, by contrast of her
" dutiful conduct " with that of " unruly Massa-
chusetts," gained greater freedom to pursue her
own domestic policy with its affairs of Church
and State. Many of its details were unknown,

122 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

or ignored, by the English government. The
period when the four colonies had been united
upon all measures of common welfare, whether
temporal or spiritual, had passed. There were
now three colonies. One of these, much weaker
than the others, was destined within compara-
tively few years to be absorbed by Massachusetts
as New Haven had been by Connecticut. Mean-
while, Massachusetts and Connecticut were de-
veloping along characteristic lines and had each
its individual problems to pursue. While in
ecclesiastical affairs the conservative factions in
the two colonies had much in common and con-
tinued to have for a long time, the Reforming
Synod of 1679-80, held in Boston, was the last
in which all the New England churches had any
vital interest, because a period of transition was
setting in. This period of transition was marked
by an expansion of settlements with its accom-
panying spirit of land-grabbing, and by a lower-
ing of tone in the community, as material inter-
ests superseded the spiritual ones of the earlier
generations, and as the Indian and colonial wars
spread abroad a spirit of license. In the reli-
gious life of the colonists, this transition made
itself felt not alone in the character of its devo-
tees, but in the ecclesiastical system itself, as it
changed from the polity and practice embodied

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 123

in the Cambridge Platform to that of a later
day, and to the almost Presbyterian government
expressed in the Say brook Platform of 1708.
The transition in Massachusetts, in both secular
and religious development, varied greatly from
that in Connecticut. Hence, from the time of
the Reforming Synod, the history of Connecti-
cut is almost entirely the story of its own career,
touching only at points the historical develop-
ment of the other New England colonies. On
the religious side, it is the story of the evolution
of Connecticut's peculiar Congregationalism.

The Reforming Synod of 1679-80 had been
called by the Massachusetts General Court be-
cause, in the words of that old historian, Thomas
Prince : —

A little after 1660, there began to appear Decay,
And this increased to 1670, when it grew very visible
and threatening, and was generally complained of
and bewailed bitterly by the pious among them (the
colonists) : and yet more to 1680, when but few of
the first Generation remained.49

The reasons of this falling away from the
standards of the first generation were many. In
the first place, the colonists had become mere
colonials. Upon the Stuart restoration, the strong-
est ties which bound them to the pulsing life of

124 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

the mother country, the religious ones, were sev-
ered. The colonists ceased to be the vanguard
of a great religious movement, the possible haven
of a new political state. Though they received
many refugees from Stuart conformity, the reli-
gious ties which bound them to the English non-
conformists were weakened, and still more so
when both the once powerful wings of the Puri-
tan party, Presbyterian and Independent, were
alike in danger of extinction. Shortly after the
Revolution of 1688, when, under the larger toler-
ance of William and Mary, the Presbyterians
and Independents strove to increase their strength
by a union based upon the " Heads of Agree-
ment," English and colonial nonconformity
moved for a brief time nearer, and then still
farther apart. The " Heads of Agreement " °
was a compromise so framed as to admit of ac-
ceptance by the Presbyterian who recognized
that he must, once for all, give up his hope of
a national church, and by the Independent anx-
iously seeking some bond of authority to hold'
together his weak and scattered churches. After
this compromise, the religious life of the colo-
nies ceased to be of vital importance to any large
section of the English people. After the Resto-

n The " Heads of Agreement " was destined to have more
influence in America than in England.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 125

ration the colonial agents became preeminently
interested in secular affairs, in political privi-
leges, and commercial advantages. The reaction
was felt in the colonies by generations who
lacked the heroic impulses of their fathers, their
constant incentive, and their high standards.
Moreover, the education of the second and third
generation could not be like that of the first.
The percentage of university men was less.
New Harvard could not supply the place of old
Cambridge. If life was easier, it was more
material.

Against such conditions as these, the Reform-
ing Synod made little headway.0 It set forth
in thirteen questions the offenses of the day
and in the answer to each suggested remedies.
To these questions and answers the synod added
a confession of faith. This last was a reaffir-
mation of the Westminster Confession of Faith
as amended and approved by Parliament, or
that found in the Savoy Declaration.6 In re-
's The order of the Massachusetts Court was " for the re-
visall of the discipline agreed upon by the churches, 1G47, and
what else may appeare necessary for the preventing- schism,
haeresies, prophaneness, and the establishment of the churches
in one faith and order of the gospell." There was no ques-
tioning of the Court's right to summon this synod, as there had
been in 1646-48.

6 The Savoy Declaration of October, 1G58, was put forth by
the English leaders of the Independent, or Congregational,

126 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

spect to church government, the Reforming
Synod confirmed the " substance of the Platform
of Discipline agreed upon by the messengers of
these Churches at Cambridge, Anno Domini,
1648," 50 desiring the churches to " continue
steadfast in the Order of the Gospel according
to what is therein declared from the Word of
God." Cotton Mather in the " Magnalia," 51 writ-
ing twenty years later, gives four points of de-
parture from the Cambridge polity by the Re-
forming Synod. First, occasional officiations
of ministers outside their own churches were
authorized ; secondly, there was a movement to
revive the authority and office of ruling elder
and other officers ; thirdly, " plebeian ordination,"

churches as a confession of faith, and in its thirty articles
contained a declaration of church order. The formulated
principles of church order were suggested by the Cambridge
Platform but were neither so clear nor so fully stated as in the
New England document. The Westminster Confession, the
Savoy Declaration, and the later Heads of Agreement, were
destined to have more influence in New England than in Eng-
land, where the effect was transient. The Reforming Synod
preferred the Savoy Declaration to the Westminster Confes-
sion because the terms of the former were more strictly Con-
gregational, and also because they wished to hold a confession
in common with their trans-Atlantic brethren. The Massa-
chusetts synod changed here and there a word in order to em-
phasize the church-membership of children as a right derived
through the Half- Way Covenant, and also to state explicitly
the right of the civil authority to interfere in questions of
doctrine.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 127

or lay ordination, ordination by the hands of the
brethren of the church in the absence of superior
officers, was no longer allowed ; ° and fourthly,
there was a variation from the " personal and
public confession " in favor of a private exami-
nation by the pastor of candidates for church-
membership, though the earlier custom was still
regarded as " lawful, expedient and useful."
With reference to the office of ruling elder, it
had been done away with in many churches,
partly because of lack of suitable men to fill the
office, partly because of the mistakes of incom-
petents, and partly because of a growing doubt
as to the Scriptural sanction for such an office.
In many churches the office of teacher had also
been abolished, the pastor inheriting all the au-
thority formerly lodged in the eldership, and as
he retained his power of veto, it came about
that the churches were largely in the power of
one man.

Plymouth and Connecticut colonies strongly
approved the work of this local Massachusetts
synod. As a result of the interest excited by its
suggestions to increase church discipline, for laws

a In 1GG0 the lay ordination of the Rev. Thomas Bucking-
ham of Saybrook, Conn., was strongly opposed by a council of
churches, but it was reluctantly yielded to the insistent church.
— J. B. Felt, Eccl. History, ii, 207.

128 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

to encourage morality and Christian instruction,
and for renewed zeal on the part of individuals
in godly living, a goodly number of converts were
immediately added to the churches throughout
all the colonies. Of these, the larger number
were admitted on the Half-Way Covenant. But
times had changed, and the churches could not
keep pace. The attempts to enforce religion were
fruitless,0 and only go to show that political in-
terests, that wars,6 with their accompanying ex-
citement and license, and that engrossing civil
affairs had torn men's minds from the old inter-
ests in religious controversies and in religious
customs.

The Church itself had deteriorated as the

« " Whereas this Court [the General Court of Connecticut]
in the calamitous times of '75 and '76 were moved to make
some laws for the suppression of some provoaking evils which
were feared to be growing up amongst us : viz. — prophanation
of the Sabbath ; neglect of catechizing children and servants
and famaly prayer ; young persons shaking off the government
of parents or masters; boarders and inmates neglecting the
worship of God in famalyes where they reside ; tipling &
drinkeing ; uncleanness ; oppression in workmen and traders ;
which laws have little prevailed. It is therefore ordered by
this Court that the selectmen constables and grand-jury men
in their several plantations shall have a special care in their
respective places to promote the due and full attendance of
these aforementioned orders of this Court."

'' King Philip's War, 1675-76; the usurpation of Andros ;
King William's War, 1080-97, with its expedition against
Quebec; Queen Anne's War, 1702-13.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 129

towns in their civil capacity had undertaken the
support of the minister and to collect his rates.
Even earlier began, also, the gradual change by
which the election of the minister passed from the
small group of church communicants, or full
membership, to the larger body of the Society,
and finally to the town. This change was partly
brought about through the increasing acceptance
of the Half- Way Covenant with its attendant
results. In some localities, " owning the Cove-
nant " and presenting one's children for baptism
came to be considered not as a necessary fulfill-
ing of inherited duties (because of inherited
baptismal privileges) and the consequent recog-
nition of moral obligations, but as meritorious
acts, having of themselves power to benefit the
participants. Further, the rite of baptism, con-
fined at first to children one at least of whose
parents had been baptized, was later permitted
to any for whom a satisfactory person — any
one not flagrantly immoral — could be found to
promise that the child should have religious
training. Still another factor in the lowering of
religious life was Stoddardeanism, or the teach-
ing of the Rev. Solomon Stoddard of North-
ampton, Massachusetts, a most powerful preacher
and for many years the most influential minister
throughout the Connecticut valley. As early as

130 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

1679, he began to teach that baptized persons,
who had owned the covenant, should be admitted
to the Lord's Supper, so that the rite itself might
exercise in them a regenerating grace. In its
origin, this teaching was probably intended as a
protest against a morbid, introspective, and weak-
ening self-examination on the part of many who
doubted their fitness to go to communion. But
as a result of the inter working of this teaching
and of the practice of the Half- Way Covenant,
church membership came in time to include
almost any one not openly vicious, and willing
to give intellectual, or nominal, assent to church
doctrines and also to a few church regulations.
With the change, the large body of townsmen
became the electors of the minister. Cotton
Mather in the " Ratio Discipline " 52 illustrates
these changing conditions when he tells us that
the communicants felt that the right to elect the
minister was invested in them as the real church
of Christ, and that, in order to avoid strife or
the defeat of their candidate by the majority of
the town, they would customarily propose a
choice between two nominees.

Carelessness of the churches in admitting mem-
bers had had its counterpart in the carelessness
of the towns in admitting inhabitants. Very
early, as early as 1658, the Connecticut General

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 131

Court had been obliged to call them to order.
The March session of 1658-59 had limited
the franchise to all inhabitants of twenty-one
years of age or over who were householders
(that is, married men), and who had thirty
pounds estate, or who had borne office. This was
shortly changed to " thirty pomids of proper
personal estate," or who had borne office. The
ratable estate in the colony averaged sixty
pounds per inhabitant at this time. Up to
March, 1658-59, the towns had admitted in-
habitants by a majority vote. These admitted
inhabitants, armed with a certificate of good
character from their town, presented themselves
before the General Court as candidates for the
freeman's franchise, and were admitted or not as
the Court saw fit. Disfranchisement was the
penalty for any scandalous behavior on the part
of the successful candidate. One reason for the
new and restrictive legislation was that from
1657 to 1660, from some cause unknown, large
numbers of undesirable colonists flocked into the
Connecticut towns, and thus it happened that,
as the Church broadened her idea of member-
ship, the State had need to limit its conception
of democracy. Consequently, it narrowed the
franchise by adding to the original requirements
a large property qualification, and continued to

132 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

demand the certificates of good character. More-
over, the candidates were further required to
present their credentials in October, and they
were not to be passed upon until the next session
of the Court in the following April. This two-
fold change in the religious and political life of
the colony gave greater flexibility and greater
security, for " with church and state practically
intertwined, the theory of the one had been too
narrow and of the other too broad." 53 After the
change in the franchise, records of the towns
show that there was less disorder in admitting
inhabitants and more care taken as to their per-
sonal character.

As the townsmen became the electors of the
minister, and when the new latitude in member-
ship had been accepted by the churches, there
soon appeared a growing slackness of discipline
and also an increase of authority in the hands of
the ministers and their subordinate deaconry.
This excess of authority in the hands of one man
tended to one-man ride and to frequent friction
between the minister and his people. As a result
councils might be called against councils in the
attempt to settle questions or disputes between
pastors and people. Consequently, among conser-
vatives, there came to be the feeling that there
ought to be some authoritative body to supervise

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 133

the churches, — one to which both pastor and
people could appeal disputed points.

In Massachusetts, the Connecticut colonists
saw a strenuous attempt to establish such an
authority. Between 1690 and 1705, the Massa-
chusetts clergy had revived the early custom of
fortnightly meetings of neighboring ministers.
The new associations were purely voluntary ones
for mutual assistance, for debate upon matters
of common interest, or for consultation over
special difficulties, whether pertaining to churches
or to their individual members, which might be
brought before them. These associations grew
in favor, and later became a permanent feature
of New England Congregationalism. Because
they were received with so much favor at the
time of their revival, the conservative Massachu-
setts clergy attempted in the " Proposals of
1705" to increase the ministerial and synodical
power within the churches, and to bring about
a reformation in manners and morals by giving
to these associations very large and authorita-
tive powers. The Proposals provided that all
ministers should be joined in Associations for
mutual help and advice ; for licensing candidates
for the ministry ; for providing for pastorless
churches ; for a general oversight of religion,
and for the examination of charges brought

134 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

against their own members. Standing Councils,
composed of delegates from the Associations and
also of a proper number of delegates (apparently
laymen) to represent the membership of the
churches, were to be established. These were to
control all church matters throughout the colony
that were " proper for the consideration of an
ecclesiastical council," and obedience to their
judgments was to be enforced under penalty of
forfeiture of church-fellowship. The Proposals
were approved by the majority of the Massachu-
setts clergy ; but the liberal party within the
churches would not accede to their demands, and
the General Court would not sanction the Pro-
posals in the face of such opposition. Conse-
quently, the essential feature of the Proposals,
the Standing Councils, was never adopted. But
the attempt to establish them invigorated the
Associations, and the licensing of candidates was
arranged for.

Many people in Connecticut approved the
tenor of the Proposals and desired a similar sys-
tem. Moreover, there never was a time when the
General Court was so ready to delegate to an
ecclesiastical body the control of the churches.
The trustees of the young college, Yale, the most
representative gathering of clergymen in the
colony, were anxious to have the Court establish

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 135

some system of ecclesiastical government stronger
than that existing among the churches, and to
have it send out some approved confession of
faith and discipline. Consequently, when, in
1708, Guerdon Saltonstall," the popular ex-min-
ister of New London, was raised to the governor's
chair, the time seemed ripe for a move to satisfy
the widespread demand. In response to it, the
May session of the General Court —

from their own observation and the complaints of
many others, being made sensible of the defects of the
discipline of the churches of this government, aris-
ing from want of a more explicit asserting of the
rules given for that in the holy scriptures [saw fit]
to order and require the ministers of the several
churches in the several counties of this government
to meet together at their respective countie towns,
with such messengers as the churches to which they
belong shall see cause to send with them on the last
day of June next, there to consider and agree upon
those methods and rules for the management of eccle-
siastical discipline which shall be judged agreable
and conformable to the word of God, and shall at the
same meeting, appoint two or more of their number to

a Governor Saltonstall " was more inclined to synods and for-
mularies than any other minister of that day in the New Eng-
land colonies." His influence over the clergy was almost abso-
lute. " The Saybrook Platform was stamped with his seal and
was for the most part an embodimemVof his views." — Hollister,
Hist, of Conn. vol. ii, p. 585.

136 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

meet together at Saybrook . . . where they shall
compare the results of the ministers of the several
counties, and out of which and from them to draw a
form of ecclesiastical discipline, which by two or more
persons delegated by them shall be offered this Court
. . . and be confirmed by them.54

The bill was passed by the Upper House of
the legislature and sent to a conference from the
Lower, May 22, 1708. It became a law May 22.
In the interim the words in italics were inserted
in order to eliminate any possible loss of liberty
to the churches and to protect them from a sys-
tem of government, planned by ministers only,
and enforced by the General Court.55

No records of the preliminary meeting have
come down to us, but the Preface of the Saybrook
Platform reports such a meeting and that their
delegates met at Saybrook, September 9, 1708.
At this second convention, twelve ministers, of
whom eight were trustees of Yale, and four mes-
sengers were present. Their work, known as the
Saybrook Platform, declares in its Preface that —

we agree that the confession of faith owned & con-
sented unto by the Elders and messengers of the
Clihs assembled at Boston in New England, May 12,
1680 being the Second Session of that Synod be Re-
commended to the Honbl the Gen. Assembly of this
Colony at the next Session for their Publick testimony
thereto as the faith of the Chhs of this Colony.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 137

We agree also that the Heads of Agreement as-
sented to by the vnited Ministers formerly Called
Presbyterian & Congregationall be observed by the
Clilis throout this Colony.

The work of the synod, including also a series
of authoritative " Articles," was laid before the
October session of the Court and received its ap-
proval, the Court declaring its "great approbation
of such a happy agreement " and ordaining " that
all churches within this government that are or
shall be thus united in doctrine, worship and dis-
cipline, be and for the future shall be owned and
acknowledged established by law." 56

The period of transition was over. Connecticut
had passed from the individual consecration and
democratic organization of the Cambridge Plat-
form to the comprehensive membership of a par-
ish system and to the authoritative councils, or
ecclesiastical courts, provided for by the Saybrook
Articles. A consideration of them as the main
points of the Platform is next in order.

CHAPTER VI

THE SAYBROOK PLATFORM
A Government within a Government.

The Saybrook Platform subdivides into a Con-
fession of Faith, the Heads of Agreement, and
the Fifteen Articles.

The Confession of Faith is merely a recom-
mendation of the Savoy Confession as reaffirmed
by the Synod of Boston or the Reforming Synod
of 1680.

The Heads of Agreement are but a repetition
of the articles that, under the same title, were
passed in London, in 1691, by fourteen delegates
from the Presbyterian and English Congrega-
tional churches. Both parties to the Agreement
had hoped thereby to establish more firmly their
churches and to give them the strength and dig-
nity of a strongly united body. The Heads of
Agreement were drafted by three men, Increase
Mather, the Massachusetts colonial agent to Eng-
land, Matthew Mead, a Congregationalist, and
John Hone, a Presbyterian, who in his earlier
years and by training was a Congregationalist.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 139

Naturally, between the influence of the framers
and the necessity for including the two religious
bodies, this platform inclined towards Congrega-
tionalism, but equal necessity led it away from the
freedom of the Cambridge Platform, after which
it was patterned.

In the Heads of Agreement, the composition
of the church is defined according to Congrega-
tional standards, as is also the election of its offi-
cers. The definition of the powers of the church
is not strictly Congregational, because initiative
action and governing powers are intrusted to the
eldership, while, to the brethren, there is given only
the privilege of assenting to such measures as the
elders may place before them. The membership
in the church, as defined, is semi-Congregational ;
i. e., in order to become members, persons must
be "grounded in the Fundamental Doctrines
of religion " and lead moral lives, but they are
eligible to communion only after the declaration
of their desire " to walk together according to
Gospel Rule." Concerning this declaration the
statement is made that " different degrees of Ex-
pliciteness shall in no way hinder such Churches
from owning each other as Instituted Churches"
Furthermore, no one should be pressed to declare
the time and manner of his conversion as proof
of his fitness to be received as a communicant.

140 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Such an account would, however, be welcome.
With reference to parochial bounds, introduced
into the primitive Congregationalism of New
England, but always existing in the English Pres-
byterian system, the Heads of Agreement de-
clare them to be " not of Divine Right " but —

for common Edification that church members should
live near one another, nor ought they to forsake their
church for another without its consent and recommen-
dation.

In respect to the ministry, the Heads of Agree-
ment affirm that it should be learned and com-
petent and approved; that ordinarily, pastors
should be considered as ministers only while they
continue in office over the church that elected
them to its ministry ; that ordinarily, in their
choosing and calling, advice should be sought
from neighboring churches, and that they should
be ordained with the aid of neighboring pastors.
In the matter of installation into a new office of
an elder, previously ordained, churches are to ex-
ercise the right of individual judgment and of
preference as to reordination. This same right
of preference is to be exercised in deciding
whether or not a church should support a ruling
elder. The Heads of Agreement assert that in
the intercommunion of churches there is to be

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 141

no subordination among them, and that there
ought to be frequent friendly consultations be-
tween their " Officers.'" There are to be " Occa-
sional Meetings of Ministers " of several churches
to consult and advise upon " weighty and difficult
cases," and to whose judgments, "particular
Churches, their respective Elders and Members,
ought to have a reverential regard, and not dis-
sent therefrom, without apparent grounds from
the word of God." The Heads of Agreement
command churches to yield obedience and support
to the civil authority and to be ready at all times
to give the magistrates an account of their affairs.
The Heads of Agreement were the most liberal
part of the Saybrook Platform, and were not con-
sidered sufficiently authoritative. Accordingly, —

for the Better Regulation of the Administration of
Chh Discipline in Relation to all Cases Ecclesiastical
both in Particular Chhs and In Councils to the full
Determining and Executing of the Rules in all such

cases,57 —

were added certain resolutions, known as the
" Fifteen Articles." They are in reality the
Platform, for all that goes before them is but
a reaffirmation of principles already accepted,
and the new thing in the document, the ad-
vance in ecclesiasticism, is the increased authority

142 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

permitted and, later, enforced by these Fifteen
Articles.

The Articles affirm that power and discipline
in connection with all cases of scandal that may
arise within a church, ought, the brethren con-
senting, to be lodged with the elder or elders ;
and that in all difficult cases, the pastor should
take advice of the elders of the neighboring
churches before proceeding to censure or pass
judgment. In order to facilitate both discipline
and mutual oversight, the Articles provide that eld-
ers and pastors are to be joined in Associations,
meeting at least twice a year, to consult together
upon questions of ministerial duty and upon mat-
ters of mutual benefit to their churches. From
these Associations, delegates were to be chosen
annually to meet in one General Association,
holding its session in the spring, at the time of
the general elections. The Associations were to
look after pastorless churches and to recommend
candidates for the ministry. Up to this time a
man's bachelor of arts degree had been considered
sufficient guarantee that he would make a capable
minister. Henceforth, there could no longer be
complaint that " there was no uniform method
of introducing candidates to the ministry nor
sufficient opportunity for churches to confer to-
gether in order to their seeing and acting harino-

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 143

niously." 58 In order that there should be no more
confusion arising from calling councils against
councils with their often conflicting judgments,
the Articles formed Consociations, or unions of
churches within certain limits, usually those of a
county. These Consociations were to assist upon
all great or important ecclesiastical occasions.
They were to preside over all ordinations or in-
stallations ; they were to decide upon the dis-
missal of members, and upon all difficulties arising
within any church within their district. If neces-
sary, Consociations could be joined in council.
Their decisions were to have the force of a judg-
ment or sentence only when they were " approved
by the major part of the elders present and by
such a number of the messengers " — one or two
from each church — as should constitute a ma-
jority vote. A church could call upon its Con-
sociation for advice before sentencing an offender,
but the offender could not appeal to the Consocia-
tion without the consent of his church. By these
last provisions, authority and power tended still
more to concentrate in the hands of the elders.
The Fifteen Articles, though they did not make
the judgments of the Consociations decisive, urged
upon individual churches a reverent regard for
them.

The attitude of the churches towards these

144 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Fifteen Articles varied, and it was already-
known in the Synod that such would be the case.
Some churches would find them more palatable
than others. Many were already converts to the
Rev. Solomon Stoddard's insistent teaching that
" a National Synod is the highest ecclesiastical
authority upon earth," 59 that every man must
stand to the judgment of a National Synod.
Even five years before the convening of the
Synod at Saybrook, there had issued from a
meeting of the Yale trustees,0 " altogether the
most representative ecclesiastical gathering in
the colony," a circular letter which urged the
Connecticut ministers to agree on some unifying
confession of creed, and that such be recom-
mended by the General Court to the considera-
tion of the people. The immediate answer to the
letter, if any, is unknown. Trumbull says that —

the proposal was universally acceptable, and the
churches and the ministers of the several counties
met in a consociated council and gave their assent to
the Westminster and Savoy Confessions of Faith.60

It seems that they also " drew up certain rules
of ecclesiastical discipline as preparatory to a

a The charter for the college, together with an annual grant
of three hundred dollars, was granted in 1701. None hut minis-
ters were to he trustees.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 145

General Synod which they still had in contem-
plation," 61 but took no further step to obtain the
approval of the Court. This first definite move
toward the Saybrook system bore fruit when
the Fifteen Articles were added to the Platform.
Their authoritative tone was to satisfy those
within the churches who preferred Presbyterian
classes and synods, while their interpretation
could be modified to please the adherents of
a purer Congregationalism by reading them in
the light of the Heads of Agreement which pre-
ceded them. Of their possible purport two great
authorities upon Congregationalism speak as fol-
lows. Dr. Bacon writes : —

The " Articles " by whomsoever penned, were ob-
viously a compromise between the Presbyterian
interest and the Congregational ; and like most
compromises, they were (I do not say by design) of
doubtful interpretation. Interpreted by a Presbyte-
rian, they might seem to subject the Churches com-
pletely to the authoritative government of classes or
presbyteries under the name of consociations. Inter-
preted by a Congregationalist, they might seem to
provide for nothing more than a stated Council, in
which neighboring Churches, voluntarily confederate,
could consult together, and the proper function of
which should be not to speak imperatively, but, when
regularly called, to "hold forth light" in cases of
difficulty or perplexity.62

146 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Dr. Dexter sums them up in the following
words : —

Taken by themselves, the fifteen articles were
stringent enough to satisfy the most ardent High
Churchmen among the Congregationalists of that
day ; taken, however, in connection with the London
document previously adopted, and by the spirit of
winch — apparently — they were always to be con-
strued, their stringency became matter of differing
judgment, so that what on the whole was their intent
has never been settled to this day.63

In accordance with the system of government
outlined in the Platform, the churches of the
colony were at once formed into five Associa-
tions and five Consociations, one each in New
Haven, New London, and Fairfield counties, and
two in Hartford. In later years, new bodies were
organized, as the other four Connecticut counties
were set off from these original ones. The
churches of the New Haven county Consociation,
long cleaving to the purest Congregationalism,
refused to adopt the Platform until they had
recorded their liberal construction of it. Fair-
field went to the other extreme, and put on record
their acceptance of the Consociations as church
courts. Hartford and New London accepted the
Platform as a whole, as it came from the synod,

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 147

leaving to time the decision as to its loose or
strict construction.

A legislative act was necessary to make the
Platform the legal constitution of the Congre-
gational Establishment. Such an act immediately
followed the presentation of the report by the
committee, whom the Saybrook convention, in
accordance with the Court's previous command,
sent to the Assembly. Having examined the
Platform, the Legislature declared its strong
approval of such a happy agreement, and in
October, 1708, enacted that —

all the Churches within this government that are,
and shall be thus united in doctrine, worship and
discipline, be, and for the future shall be, owned and
acknowledged, established by law :

Provided always that nothing herein shall be in-
tended or construed to hinder or prevent any society
or church that is or shall be allowed by the laws of
this government, who soberly differ or dissent from
the united churches hereby established, from exer-
cising worship and discipline in their own way, and
according to their conscience.64

The purport of this proviso was to safeguard
churches which had been approved according to
the standards formerly set up by the Court, and
also to prevent the Act of Establishment from
seeming to contradict a "Toleration Act for

148 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

sober dissenters " from the colony church that
had been passed at the preceding May session.
Out of this proviso grew a misunderstanding in
the Norwich church, which happens also to fur-
nish a typical illustration of the difficulties some-
times encountered in trying to collect a minister's
salary.

When Mr. Woodward, pastor of the Norwich
church, read the act establishing the Saybrook
Platform, he omitted the proviso. The Norwich
deputies, who had been present at the passage
of the act, immediately informed the people of
the provision which the Court had made for the
continuance of those churches of which it had
previously approved and which might be re-
luctant to adopt the stricter terms of the new
system, at least until their value had been dem-
onstrated. For this behavior, the deputies were
censured by the pastor and by the majority
of the church, who sided with him. Thereupon,
the minority withdrew and for three months
worshiped apart. Then the breach was healed,
though seeds of discord remained. By 1714,
six years later, they had germinated and had
attained such development that it was very diffi-
cult to collect the minister's salary. In Norwich,
as elsewhere, there had formerly been a custom
of collecting the ministerial rates together with

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 149

those of the county. This custom had arisen
because of difficulty in collecting the former,
and in 1708 65 this practice was legalized, pro-
vided that in each case the minister made formal
application to have his rates thus collected. In
the year 1714 and the following year the Gen-
eral Court was obliged to issue a special order
commanding the town of Norwich to fulfill its
agreement with their minister and to pay his
salary in full. The second year, the Court
added the injunction that the money should be
collected by the constables. But at the ses-
sion following the order, the Norwich deputies
informed the Court that, owing to differences ex-
isting among their townsmen, they had not seen
fit to urge its commands upon their people.
Upon learning that Mr. Woodward's family
were actually suffering, the Court appointed a
date, and ordered the Norwich constables to pro-
duce at the time set a receipt, signed by Mr.
Woodward, and showing that his salary had
been paid in full. If the receipt was not forth-
coming at the appointed time, the secretary of
the colony was empowered to issue, upon appli-
cation, a warrant to distrain all or any unpaid
portion of the minister's salary from the con-
stables, and, also, any additional costs. This
legislation seems to have had due effect, though

150 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

feeling ran so high that, in the following year,
it was decided to divide the church. When the
two parishes were formed, Mr. Woodward re-
tired, and the life of the divided church was
continued under new ministers.

From the adoption of the Saybrook Plat-
form, the Connecticut churches were for many
years preeminently Presbyterian in character.
The terms Congregational and Presbyterian were
often used interchangeably. As late as 1799,
the Hartford North Association, speaking of the
Connecticut churches, declared them " to con-
tain the essentials of the Church of Scotland or
Presbyterian Church in America." The Gen-
eral Association in 1805 affirmed that " The
Saybrook Platform is the constitution of the
Presbyterian Church in Connecticut."0 Whether

a The Hartford North Association in 1799 gave " informa-
tion to all whom it may concern that the Constitution of the
Churches in the State of Connecticut, founded on the common
usage and confession of faith, Heads of Agreement, Articles
of discipline adopted at the earliest period of the settlement of
the State, is not Congregational, but contains the essentials
of the Church of Scotland, or Presbyterian Church in Amer-
ica, particularly, as it gives a decisive power to Ecclesiastical
Councils and a Consociation consisting of Ministers and Mes-
sengers, or lay representatives, from the churches, is possessed
of substantially the same authority as a Presbytery." The
fifteen ministers at this meeting of the Hartford North Asso-
ciation declared that there were in the state not more than ten
or twelve Congregational churches, and that the majority were

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 151

called by the one name or the other, Presbyte-
rianized Congregationalism was the firmly estab-
lished state religion, for under the Saybrook
system the local independence of the churches
was largely sacrificed. The system further ex-
alted the eldership and the pastoral power.
It replaced the sympathetic help and advisory
assistance of neighboring churches by organ-
ized associations and by the authority of coun-
cils.

In the new system the ecclesiastical machinery
which, at first, brought peace and order, soon
developed into a barren autonomy and gave rise
to rigid formalism in religion, with its conse-
quent baneful results upon the spiritual and
moral character of the people. The Established
Church had attained the height of its security
and power, with exclusive privileges conferred
by the legislature. That body had turned over
to the "government within a government" the
whole control of the church and of the religious
life of the colony, and had endowed it with eccle-
siastical councils which rapidly developed into
ecclesiastical courts.

not, and never had been, constituted according- to the Cam-
bridge Platform, though they might, " loosely and vaguely,
though improperly," be " termed Congregational Churches."
— See MS. Records. Also G. L. Walker, First Church in Hart-
ford, p. 358.

152 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT

" There was no formal coercive power ; but
the public provision for the minister's support,
and the withdrawal of it from recalcitrant mem-
bers formed a coercive power of no mean effi-
ciency." m

CHAPTER VII

THE SAYBROOK PLATFORM AND THE TOLERA-
TION ACT

They keep the word of promise to our ear and break it to
our hope. — Macbeth, Act V, Sc. viii.

The Connecticut General Court incorporated in
the act establishing the Saybrook Platform the
proviso —

that nothing herein shall be intended or construed to
hinder or prevent any Society or Church that is or
shall be allowed by the laws of this government, who
soberly differ or dissent from the United Churches
hereby established from exercising worship and dis-
cipline in their own way, according to their con-
science.

Here then was the measure of such religious
toleration as could be expected. It appears a
liberal measure. It was liberal in that day and
generation, when men's minds were so firmly pos-
sessed by the belief that civil order was closely
dependent upon religious uniformity. The exact
purport of the proviso, however, can best be
gauged by considering it in connection with a

•

154 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

legislative act that immediately preceded it, and
by studying the conditions which prompted or
enforced this earlier legislation, known as the
Toleration Act of 1708.a

As conditions were at its passage, the proviso
applied only to certain Congregational churches
that, preferring the polity of the Cambridge
Platform, were determined to adhere to it. In
earlier years, these churches, with their exacting
test of regenerative experience, had constituted
the majority. In later years, the Half- Way
Covenant practice and Stoddardeanism had
shifted the relative position of church parties.
Now, the proviso represented that liberal-minded

« " For the ease of such as soberly dissent from the way
of worship and ministrie established by the ancient laws of
this government, and still continuing, that if any such persons
shall at the countie court of the countie they belong to,
qualifie themselves according to an act made in the first year
of the late King William and Queen Mary, granting libertie of
worshipping God in a way separate from that which is by law
established, they shall enjoy the same libertie and privilege in
any place in this colonie without let, or hindrance or molesta-
tion whatsoever. Provided always that nothing herein shall
be construed to the prejudice of the rights and privileges of
the churches as by law established or to the excluding any per-
son from paying any such minister or town clues as are or shall
hereafter be due from him." (The italics are mine. M. L. G.)
Conn. Col. Bee. v, 50.

Failure to comply with the law was punished by a heavy
fine, and in default thereof, by heavy bail or by imprisonment
until the time for trial.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 155

party within the church who would extend toler-
ance to the minority who still clung to the out-
grown convictions and principles of an earlier
age. This tolerance was extended from a two-
fold motive : for the reason just assigned, and
because the government hoped, by permitting a
liberal interpretation of the Saybrook Articles,
to win over these tolerated Congregational
churches. It trusted that the anticipated bene-
fits, proceeding from the new order of church
government, would further convince them of the
superior advantages derivable from the Presby-
terian or more authoritative rendering of the
Saybrook instrument, and that through such a
policy, the ready acceptance of the Saybrook
Platform by all the churches in the colony would
be secured. Furthermore, it would not do for
the colony to make an important law, following
the great English precedent of 1689 which had
granted toleration to dissenters, and then, within
six months, frame a constitution for its Estab-
lished Church, so rigid that no room could be
found in the colony for any fundamental differ-
ences in faith or practice. Consequently, the
proviso was made to include both tolerated Con-
gregationalists and any dissenters who might in
the future be permitted to organize their own
churches, or, in the words of the Court, " any

156 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Society or Church that is or shall be allowed by
the laws of this government." Thus the proviso
was practically forced into the October legisla-
tion of the General Court by the passing of the
Toleration Act at its spring session, notwithstand-
ing the fact that its inclusion was in accord with
the sentiment of the liberal party.

Toleration Act and proviso notwithstanding,
no rival church was desired at this time' in Con-
necticut. No rival creed was recognized. True,
there were a few handfuls of dissenters scattered
through the colony, but Congregationalism, with
a strong tincture of Presbyterianism, was almost
the unanimous choice of the people. It was
largely outside pressure that had forced the pas-
sage of the Toleration Act, even if it accounts for
itself as a loyal following of the English prece-
dent of 1689. Although it had always been un-
derstood that the colonies should make no laws
repugnant to the organic or to the common law
of England, Connecticut was determined to pro-
tect as much as possible her own approved church,
to keep it free from the contamination not only
of infidels and heretics, but also from Church-of-
England dissenters and from all others. Accord-
ingly she placed side by side upon her statute
book a Toleration Act with a proviso in favor of
her Established Church, and a Church platform

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 157

with a proviso for " sober dissenters " there-
from.

The circumstances which led up to and en-
forced the passage of the Toleration Act were
many and varied. The motives were complex.
Considerations religious, political, social, and
economic entered into the problem which met
the Connecticut legislators when they found their
colony falling into disfavor with the King. This
problem, resolved into its simplest terms, con-
sisted in securing continued exemption from ex-
ternal interference. If Connecticut could retain
the King's approval, she could prevent the in-
trigues of her enemies at the English court and
could control the situation in the colony, what-
ever its aspects, secular or religious. And with
reference to the latter, she would still be able to
exalt her Establishment and to keep dissenters,
however they might increase in kinds or numbers,
in a properly subordinated position.

In order to obtain a grasp of the situation
within the colony at the time when its govern-
ment concluded that the passing of the Toleration
Act would be politic, it is necessary to examine
the status of the dissenters there. Of these there
were four classes, the Quakers or Society of
Friends, the Episcopalians, the Baptists, and the
Rogerines. Of these, the Quakers and the Epis-

158 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

copalians were the first to make the Connecticut
government forcibly realize that, if she interfered
with what they believed to be their rights, there
would probably have to be a settlement with the
home government. But as the efforts of these
sects to interest the English government in their
behalf run parallel with and mix themselves up
with other complaints against Connecticut, it will
make the history of the times clearer if the early
story of the Baptists and Rogerines is first told.
The Baptists early appeared in New England,
but it was not until 1665 that Massachusetts
permitted their organization into churches, and
not until 1700, only eight years before the
Saybrook Platform, that Cotton Mather wrote
of them, " We are willing to acknowledge for
our brethren as many of them as are willing to
be acknowledged." In her dislike of them, Mas-
sachusetts had the full sympathy of Connecticut.
And it was with great dissatisfaction that the
authorities of the latter colony saw these dissent-
ers, early in the eighteenth century, crossing the
Rhode Island boundary to settle within her terri-
tory. Accordingly, in 1704, the General Court
of Connecticut refused them permission to incor-
porate in church estate. When in the following
year, in spite of the legislature's refusal, they
organized a church at Groton under Valentine

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 159

Wightman,0 the Assembly proceeded to inflict
the full penalties of the law. While the Baptists
had cheerfully paid all secular taxes, they had
made themselves liable to fines and imprison-
ments by their refusal, on the ground of con-
science, to pay the ecclesiastical ones, and, as they
continued to refuse, fines and imprisonment and
even flogging became their portion. Governor
Salton stall, mild in his personal attitude toward
the three other groups of dissenters, thoroughly
disapproved of the Baptists, seeming to fear
their growing influence in New England and
their increasing importance in the mother coun-
try. He believed in a policy of restriction and
oppression toward the mere handful of them
that had settled within his jurisdiction.

Apart from the main body of the Baptists,
there were in Connecticut a number of Seventh-

a Later in 1707, Mr. Wightman and Mr. John Bulkley, Con-
gregationalist minister of Colchester, by permission of the
authorities, who were troubled by the rumor that the Baptists
and Seventh-day Baptists were about to begin proselytizing- in
earnest in Connecticut, entered into a public debate as to the
merits of their respective religious beliefs. Not much came of
it to the Congregationalists, who had expected to see Mr.
Wightman's arguments annihilated, while the Baptists had a
fine opportunity to publish broadcast their views. Such a dis-
cussion was steadily forbidden Browne and Barrowe in 1590.
A century had developed sufficient toleration to make interest-
ing, as well as permissible, a public discussion of divergent
beliefs.

160 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

day Baptists and Rogerine Baptists or Rogerine
Quakers. There were a very few of them, — not
more than a dozen in 1680.a Setting aside the
earliest persecution of the Quakers, these Roger-
ines were the first dissenters to fall under the dis-
pleasure of the Connecticut authorities. They
were the first to be systematically fined, whipped,
and imprisoned for conducting themselves con-
trary to the laws for the support and honor of
the Connecticut Establishment. For this reason,
though they were weak in numbers and often an
exasperating set of fanatics, they deserve a hear-
ing. Their persecution began about 1677, while

a The report to the Commission of Trade and Foreign
Plantations made in 1680 gave :

" 26 Answ. Our people in this colony are some strict Con-
gregational men, others more large Congregational men, and
some moderate Presbyterians, and take the Congregational men
of both sorts, they are the greatest part of the people in the
colony.

" There are 4 or 5 Seven-day men, in our Colony, and about
so many Quakers.

" 17 Answ. (1) Great care is taken for the instruction of ye
people in ye X'tian religion, by ministers catechising of them
and preaching to them twice every Sabbath daye and sometimes
on lecture dayes ; and so by masters of famalayes instructing
and catechising the children and servants being so required by
law. In our corporation there are twenty-six towns and twenty-
one churches. There is in every town in the colony a settled
minister except in two towns newly begun." — This was equiv-
alent to one minister to 460 persons, or to about 90 families.
— Conn. Col. Rec. iii, 300. Trumbull's Hist, of Conn, i, 397.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 161

these people were chiefly resident in New London
and the Seventh-day men were mostly members of
the Rogers family. Later, the Rogerines spread
to Norwich and Lebanon and their immediate
vicinity.

This sect of Rogerines arose from the inter-
course through trade of two brothers, John and
James Rogers of New London, with the Sabba-
tarians or Seventh-day Baptists of Rhode Island.
These brothers were baptized in 1674 and 1675,
and their parents in the following year. All were
received as members of the Seventh-day church
at Newport. This did not trouble the Connecticut
authorities, who appear not to have interfered
with the converts until they committed a flagrant
offense and put public dishonor upon the colony
church; as in 1677, when elders of the Rhode
Island church arrived in New London to baptize
the wife of Joseph Rogers, another brother of the
first two converts. The elders selected for their
baptismal ceremony a quiet spot about two miles
from the town. This did not suit John Rogers,
who insisted that the town was the only proper
place, and led the little procession into it. Mr.
Hiscox, one of the elders, was seized while preach-
ing and carried before the magistrates, but was
soon released. Deprived of their leader, the Sab-
batarians withdrew to another place, and John

162 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Rogers, arrogating to himself the office of elder,
performed the baptismal service. From this
time forth he began to draw disciples to himself.
When he pushed his personal opinions too far, the
Newport church attempted to discipline both him
and his following, but, this attempt failing, the
Rogerines became henceforth a distinct sect.

The Rogerines, though strictly orthodox in the
fundamental articles of the Christian faith, were
opposed by the Connecticut magistrates as
teachers of doctrines tending to undermine reli-
gion, as a persistently rebellious sect, and as noto-
rious breakers of the peace. In faith and practice,
these Rogerines bore some resemblance to the
Baptists and also to the Quakers. Hence, they
were often called Rogerine-Baptists or Rogerine-
Quakers. Like the earlier Baptists and the
Quakers, they believed it wrong to take an oath.
They differed from the Congregationalists chiefly
in their form of administering baptism and the
Lord's supper and in their opposition to any paid
ministry. Rogers also claimed that there were
certain tests of personal regeneration which the
Congregationalists denied. John Bolles, one of
the later leaders of the sect, declared the Congre-
gational Sunday to be "a great Idol in this
Country, and all the Religion built on the Holi-
ness of the pretended Sabbath is Hypocrisy and

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 163

further that it is contrary to Scripture, for Chris-
tians to exercise Authority over one another in
matters of Religion." 67 Rogers, with less dignity
and more pugnaciousness, called the authorities
" the scarlet beast " and the Establishment a
" harlot," hurling scriptural texts with rankling,
exasperating abusiveness in his determination to
prove her customs evil and anti-Christian. Not
content with such railing, the Rogerines deter-
mined to show no respect to their adversaries'
opinions and worship. Thus, while maintaining
that there should be no public worship, Rogers,
after his separation from the Seventh-day Bap-
tists, perversely chose Sunday as the day most
convenient for the Rogerines to hold their meet-
ings. They not only exhorted and testified in the
streets, but forced their way into the churches,
pestering the ministers to argue disputed points.
They offended in another way, for, according to
the colony law, they profaned the Sabbath by
working, claiming that, as all days were holy, all
were alike good for work. Fines and imprison-
ment began in 1677. They were continued in
the hope, held by the authorities, that they could
suppress the Rogerines by exactions which should
melt away their estates. Sometimes these pen-
alties were unjust, as when John Rogers could
rightly claim that he was sentenced without bene-

164 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

fit of jury, and, at another, that the authorities had
seized his son's cattle to settle the father's fines.
John Bolles pleaded against the injustice of for-
cing men " to pay Money for his (the minister's)
preaching when they did not hear him and pro-
fessed it was against their Consciences." 68 But
such a plea was many, many years in advance of
his time. The Rogerines, important, in their own
estimate, as called of God, and angered by oppo-
sition, seized upon every scriptural passage that
bade them exhort and testify, feeling it their duty
to do so both in season and out. Had they been
willing to give up this practice in public, they
would probably have been left in comparative
peace, for Governor Saltonstall wrote to Rogers
offering him protection for his followers if they
would consent to give up " testifying " and would
hold their services quietly and privately. Rogers
refused upon the ground that he had a right to
use the colony churches for his preaching, since
he and his people were obliged to contribute to
their maintenance. This was logical, but not ac-
ceptable to the Connecticut magistrates, who con-
tinued to cool the enthusiasm of the Rogerines by
occasional heavy penalties, and to look upon them
as a set of fanatics, doomed to self -extinction."

The attitude of the Connecticut authorities
at this time toward the Quakers, or Society of

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 1G5

Friends, was quite different from that assumed
toward the Baptists and Rogerines. A retro-
spect of their history in the colony shows them
to have been the earliest dissenters, and also the
ones to whom concessions, though only tempo-
rary, were first made. Previous to the Restora-
tion, the Quakers were the only dissenters with
whom Connecticut had to deal. They appeared in
Massachusetts in 1655, and in the following year
New Haven colony found no laws could be too
severe for the " cursed sect of the Quakers."
The General Court of Connecticut seconded the
efforts of both New Haven and Massachusetts
to exclude the obnoxious and determined sect,
but it soon decided that its fears had been greatly
exaggerated, and that mild laws and town legis-
lation were sufficient. Accordingly, town officers
were instructed to prevent Quakers settling in
the colony, to forbid their books and writings,
and to break up their meetings. It was forbid-
den, however, to lay upon them a fine of more
than ten pounds or, under any circumstances, the
death penalty.

While New Haven whipped, branded, and
transported Quakers,a Connecticut mildly en-

a Humphrey Norton in the New Haven colony was whipped
severely, hurnt in the hand with the letter "H" for heretic,
and banished for being- a Quaker. The next year, for testifying
against the treatment of Norton, William Bond, Mary Dyer, and

1G6 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

forced her laws against them,69 and how mildly
the following incidents will show. In 1G58, John
Rous and John Copeland, traveling preachers,
reached Hartford. They were allowed to hold a
discussion in the presence of the governor and
magistrates upon " God is a Spirit." At its
close, they were courteously informed that the
laws of the colony forbade their remaining in
it, and were requested to continue without further
delay their journey into Rhode Island. This
request was heeded, but while on their way, to
quote Rous, " The Lord gave us no small do-
minion." It would seem as if the wise Quaker
had taken the benefit of the law which forbade
his remaining " more than fifteen days in a town,"
and, also, of the friendly curiosity of the people
along his route. Rous further testified in behalf
of Connecticut that "Among all the colonies
found we not like moderation as this ; most of the
magistrates being more noble than those of the
others." 70 A short time after Rous's visit, two
Quakers, who persisted in holding services, were
arrested and banished." Still later, two women

Mary Whetherstead were apprehended by the same authorities,
and forcibly carried back to Rhode Island. — H. Rogers, Mary
Dyer, p. 3G. For the Quaker Laws of both colonies see Note
09.

a The notorious William Ledra of later Massachusetts fame
was one of these.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 167

who attempted to conduct services in Hartford
met with similar treatment, of whom their histo-
rian records : " Except that some extra apparel
which they took with them was sold by the jaoler
to pay his fee, no act of persecution befell them
at Hartford."71 As late as 1676, when the Con-
gregationalists and the constables of New London,
with great violence, broke up a Friends' meeting,
held by William Edmundson, he tells us that
" the sober people were offended at them," 72
and that on the following Sunday, at " New
Hartford" (Hartford), after the regular morn-
ing service, he was allowed to speak unhin-
dered. The same afternoon, when he attempted
to speak in another meeting-house, the officers,
urged on by the minister, " haled me," he writes,
" out of the worship-house, and hurt my arm so
that it bled." When he asked them if they
thought that was the right treatment of a man
faint from fasting all day, they, with excuses for
the conduct of the minister and the magistrates,
hurried ,him to an inn. There the people were
allowed to listen to his discourse, and, the next
morning, he was bidden to go freely on his way.
Most of the Connecticut Quakers were in the
border towns. Few, if any, organized societies
were formed in Connecticut until about the time
of the Revolution. Their scattered converts were

168 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

ministered to by traveling preachers, and, where
possible, members would cross the boundaries to
attend the Quarterly or Monthly Meetings in
neighboring Rhode Island, or possibly Massa-
chusetts, or on Long Island. These dissenters
had quickly perceived the strength of union, and
as early as 1661 the Rhode Island Yearly Meet-
ing had been established, with its system of sub-
ordinate Quarterly and Monthly Meetings. Soon
after, Yearly Meetings at Philadelphia brought
reports from the southern and middle colonies.
Those at Flushing, Long Island, collected news
of converts from New York as far east as the
Connecticut River, while the Yearly Meeting at
Newport, Rhode Island, heard from all members
east of that river. The custom of exchanging
yearly letters, giving the gist of these three
annual meetings, was soon instituted. After the
establishment of the London Yearly Meeting, the
frequent exchange of letters with the colonial
Quakers, begun in 1662, was reinforced by the
exchange of English and American preachers.
By similar means, the whole Society the world
over was bound closely together. Their common
interests were guarded, and every infraction of
their liberties known. If in any of the colonies,
as in Connecticut, thejr were oppressed for their
refusal to pay ecclesiastical taxes and to bear

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 169

arms, the facts were known in England. Secular
taxes they cheerfully met, but others were against
their conscience. They were excellent citizens,
and they were everywhere friendly with the
Indians. Because of this friendship, and because
the Connecticut colony desired the good offices
of the Rhode Island authorities during the dan-
gerous King Philip's War, the General Court
had decided to show favor to the few Quakers
who were then within the colony. Accordingly,
in 1675, a bill was passed temporarily releasing
the Quakers from fines for absence from public
worship, provided " that they did not gather
into assemblies within the colony or make any
disturbance." How long this law was operative
is uncertain, but probably until about 1702. It,
is omitted in the revision of the laws of that year,
and Gough, in his " History of the People called
Quakers," says that the persecuting spirit died
away, but was renewed by Connecticut in 1702.°
We know some of the causes that probably led
to its revival, such as the extravagances of the
E-ogerines, the increase of the Baptists, and the
general feeling that the Congregational churches
were inherently weak among themselves before

a This year a law was passed requiring every person to care-
fully apply himself on the Lord's day to the duties of religion.
See New Haven Hist. Soc. Papers, ii, 399.

170 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

this threatening increase of external foes. More-
over, in this same year, there began a very def-
inite propaganda in behalf of an American
episcopate. The attempt to revive persecution
against the Quakers was unfortunate. They
believed in liberty of conscience as a natural,
inalienable right, and its practical exercise they
meant to have. Their leaders were constant in
their loyal addresses and dignified petitions to
the throne. The great English Toleration Act
had befriended them, and the Act of 1693 had,
by substituting affirmation for oath, allowed
them to take full advantage of the toleration
measure. Such religious liberty as they enjoyed
in England, they meant to possess in England's
colonies; and when Connecticut, in 1702, again
put on the thumb-screws of persecution, these
dissenters at once sent a protest across the seas.
Their great leader, William Penn, was again in
favor at court and with the Queen, who, in Privy
Council, October 11, 1705, favorably heard their
petition and promptly annulled the Connecticut
law of 1657 against " Heretics, Infidels and
Quakers," declaring it void and repealed. " The
repealing of this Act put a final period to the
persecuting of Quakers in New England." 73 To
be more exact, it put an end to persecution, but
not to occasional fines or to legalized taxes which

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 171

the Quakers still considered unjust. But as Con-
necticut had many serious problems on her hands
at this time, she thought it prudent to follow the
lead of the Crown, and repealed the law of 1657,
in so far as it applied to the Quakers.

The year that the Quakers scored this victory,
the Episcopalians lodged with the home govern-
ment a serious complaint of the intolerance that
Connecticut showed towards members of the
Church of England. They complained that —

they have made a law yl no christians who are not
of their community, shall meet to worship God, or
have a minister without lycence from their Assem-
bly ; which law even extends to ye Church of England,
as well as other professions tolerated in England.74

This was not the first time that such a complaint
had been carried to England. As early as 1665 a

a Articles o f Law Book of Conn, printed 1670. " It
Misdemeanor vs. is ordered that when the ministry of the
Connecticut, July, word is established according to the Gos-
1665. " They deny pel, throughout this Colony, every person
to the inhabitants shall duly resort and attend thereunto re-
the exercise of the spectively upon the Lord's day, upon pub-
religion of the lie fast days and days of thanksgiving as
church of Eng- are generally kept by appointment of au-
land ; arbitrarily thority ; and any person . . . without neces-
fining those who sary cause, withdrawing himself from the
refuse to come to public ministry of the word, he shall for-
their congrega- feit for his absence from every such meet-
tional a s s e m - ing five shillings." — Conn. Col. Bee. iii,
blies." 294.

172 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

it had been made, within a year after Connecti-
cut had satisfied the Commissioners of Charles
II, sending them home convinced that the Church
of England services would be allowed in the col-
ony as soon as there were settlers who desired
them.a As there were no Episcopalians in the
colony then, nor for nearly thirty years after-
wards, and as Connecticut was in high favor
with the Stuarts, little heed was paid to the
complaint at the time, nor until long years after-
wards, when it was coupled with graver offenses.
Back of the personal affront to the sovereign
in the persecution or oppression of members of
the Church of England, there were graver causes
of offense such as the Crown regarded as mistakes,
or even misdemeanors. For many years Con-
necticut had been virtually an independent and
sovereign state within her own borders. Her
charter was a most liberal one. She had sought
approval for it from the sovereigns, William and
Mary, and, while she had been unable to obtain
for it the crown's expressed approval, she had

a They reported that the colony would '' not hinder any from
enjoying the sacraments and using the common prayer hook,
provided that they hinder not the maintenance of the puhlic
minister." — Hutchinson, Hist, of Mass., p. 412.

Dr. Beardsley suggests that influential citizens may have
assured them that the laws would he modified to accommodate
Episcopalians. — E. E. Beardsley, Hist, of the Episcopal Church,
i, p. 110.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 173

secured from the best legal talent a judgment
declaring it still valid. She continued to be
practically exempt from external interference
with her domestic policy for a number of years
after the Revolution of 1688, yet from that time
on there was always at the English court a
party, at first largely influenced by Sir Edmund
Andros and his following, who were either jeal-
ous of Connecticut's charter or envious of her
prosperity. They were always scheming and
ready to prejudice the king against his colony,
or to antagonize the Board of Trade.

Within her own borders, Connecticut was
peaceful, prosperous, and contented. For the
most part, she was free from the harassing danger
of Indian war. She readily contributed her share
for the common defense of the colonies, and sent
her loyal quotas to fight for England's territorial
claims. For many years, Connecticut was shrewd
enough to steer clear of the disastrous inflation
of paper currency which overtook her sister col-
onies. Many strangers were attracted by her
prosperity, so that, notwithstanding frequent emi-
grations of her people, she trebled her popula-
tion about once in twenty years all through the
first century of her existence.0 With this increas-

« Population in 1656, 800 ; 1665, 9000 ; 1670-80, 10,000-
14,000; 1689, 17,000-20,000; 1730, approximately, 50,000;

174 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

ing population came, in the latter part of the
seventeenth century, members of the Church of
England, who settled in Stratford and in the
towns adjacent to New York.a They quickly
found that their previous impressions were erro-
neous, and that Connecticut would not tolerate
their religious services. Consequently, a report
of the religious condition in Connecticut was
made in England, in 1702, at about the time the
Quakers complained of renewed persecution and
at a time when the enemies of the colony were
extremely active in charging her with miscon-
duct.

A report of Connecticut's ecclesiastical consti-
tution and of her oppression of dissenters was
made to the Bishop of London by John Talbot,
who, with George Keith, had traveled through
Connecticut on his way from New York to
Boston. These men were missionary priests of
the Church of England. In New London, Gov-
ernor Saltonstall, then the minister of that town,

1756, 130,000; 1761, 145,000; 1776, 200,000; 1780, 237,946.—
F. B. Dexter, Estimates of the Population of the American
Colonies, in American Antiquarian Society Proceedings, 2d
series, vol. 5.

a Up to 1680, there was only one Episcopal clergyman in
New England, Father Jordan, of Portsmouth, N. H. There
was an Episcopal clergyman at the fort in New York, and out-
side of Virginia and Maryland only two others in North Amer-
ica. There were a few Episcopal families in Stratford in 1600.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 175

knowing that there were a few Church-of -England
men in the place, had met the travelers, " civilly
entertained them at his house," and " invited
them to preach in his church." 75 The Governor
might not, the magistrates certainly did not, feel
so kindly disposed toward Talbot a year or so
later, when it was found that, upon his return
to New York, he had written home to his supe-
riors in England, earnestly advocating an Ameri-
can episcopate. True, he urged that the American
bishop should have ecclesiastical powers only,
and that those ecclesiastico-civil in character,
such as the probating of wills, granting of mar-
riage licenses, and the presentation of livings,
should remain in the hands of the colonial gov-
ernors. But the Connecticut authorities were
not forgetful of Laud's purpose in 1638 to
appoint a bishop over New England, and its frus-
tration by the political unrest at home. They
recalled that the revival of such a project had
floated as a rumor about those royal commis-
sioners of 1664 to whom they had given such
satisfactory, if evasive, answers. Moreover, an
Order in Council of 1685, of which there is ex-
ternal evidence, though the order itself is not
recorded, had vested ecclesiastical jurisdiction
over the colonies in the Bishop of London.76
Connecticut knew also that four years later, in

176 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

1689 (the year that Episcopacy erected King's
Chapel, Boston, with its royal endowment of
X100 per year), the first commissary had been
dispatched to Virginia to superintend the
churches there. The Crown, as yet, had deemed
it unwise to thrust an episcopate upon its dissent-
ing colonies, and, except for a short time before
Queen Anne's death, it was to take no interest
in the plans for the American episcopate until
some forty years later, when the King thought to
discern in it some political advantage. But early
in 1700, when complaints were lodged against
Connecticut, there was a strong party within the
English Church itself who were most anxious
to see the episcopal bond between the mother
country and her colonies strengthened. For this
purpose, they had sent to America, in 1695, the
Reverend Thomas Bray to report upon the condi-
tions and churchly sentiment within the colonies.
His report was published under the title, " A
Memorial representing the State of Religion
in the Continent of North America." It was an
appeal for episcopal oversight, and resulted in the
formation in England, in 1701, of the Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.
To this organization belonged all the English
bishops with all their influential following. The
Society regularly maintained missionary churches

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 177

and missionary priests throughout the colonies.
Candidates for this priesthood were required to
submit to a thorough examination as to their
fitness. Before sailing, they were required to
report to the Bishop of London as their Diocesan
and to the Archbishop of Canterbury as their
Metropolitan. They were required to send full
semi-annual reports of their work and to include
in them any other information that promised to
be of interest or advantage to the Society. John
Talbot and George Keith were two of these mis-
sionaries.

Talbot's appeal for the American episcopate
was seconded in 1705 by fourteen clergymen
from the middle colonies who convened at Bur-
lington, N. J., to frame a petition to the Eng-
lish archbishop and bishops. In it they set
forth the necessity in America of a bishop to
ordain and to supply other ecclesiastical needs.
The petitioners added that a bishop was also
necessary to counteract " the inconveniences
which the church labors under by the influ-
ence which seditious men's counsels have upon
the public administration and the opposition
which they make to the good inclinations of well-
affected persons." 77 In this appeal for a bishop
stress was laid upon the cost and dangers of a
trip to England for ordination,78 and also to the

178 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

frequent loss of converts from the independent
ministry because of the lack of ordination privi-
leges in America. These references, and also
that to the " counsel of seditious men," could
not be agreeable to large numbers of dissenting
colonists. They would not be viewed with favor
in Connecticut, where, by 1705, Episcopalians
had become so numerous that a wealthy New
Yorker, Colonel Heathcote by name, and a man
thoroughly acquainted with his New England
neighbor, undertook to look after the Church-of-
England men as unfortunate brethren of a com-
mon faith. He appealed to the English Society
for the Propagating ° of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts to extend its missions into Connecticut.
He asked that Rector Muirson be stationed
at Rye, New York. Colonel Heathcote's idea
was: —

to first plant the church securely in Westchester on
the border of Connecticut ; and secondly, from that
point to act upon Connecticut, which was wholly
Puritan and withal not a little bigoted and unchari-
table.

Naturally, whatever of tolerance the Connecticut
people might have shown two traveling preach-
ers would turn to opposition when they saw the
deliberate and well-organized attempt of this

« Or " Propagation," — as it is most frequently called.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 179

proselyting church, this old enemy of their fore-
fathers, to invade their colony and undermine
their own Establishment. Consequently, when,
in company with Mr. Muirson, Colonel Heath-
cote began itinerating through southwestern Con-
necticut, ministers and magistrates frequently
opposed and threatened them. The people occa-
sionally welcomed them. They did not object
to hear and to criticise the strangers, and were
sometimes willing to have their good neighbors,
if they chanced to be Church-of-England men,
enjoy the ministrations of these passing visitors.
In some places, however, the civil officers went
so far as to go about among the people, even from
house to house, to dissuade them from attend-
ing Mr. Muirson's services,0 and, at Fairfield,

a Mr. Muirson's report after his first visit to Stratford was
that he had had " a very numerous congregation both fore-
noon and afternoon." He continues, " I baptized about twenty-
four persons the same day. ..." The Independents threat-
ened me and all who were instrumental in bringing me thither,
with prison and hard usage. They are very mnch incensed to
see the Church (Rome's sister, as they ignorantly call her) is
likely to gain ground among 'em, and use all stratagem they
can invent to defeat my enterprise." — Church Doc. Conn., i,
p. 17.

Colonel Heathcote wrote, "The Ministers are very uneasy
at our coming amongst them, and abundance of pains were
taken to persuade and terrify the people from hearing Mr.
Muirson, but it availed nothing ; " — not even the threat to
jail the rector for holding services contrary to the colony law

180 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

the meeting-house was closed lest it should be
"defiled by idolatrous worship and supersti-
tious ceremonies." 79 The Episcopalians them-
selves later acknowledged that, until 1709, they
suffered little persecution beyond " that of the
tongue." ° When they were not permitted to
organize churches, and were forced to pay taxes
for the support of Congregationalism, they com-
plained bitterly to their friends in England, and
such oppression was listed among the many other
misdemeanors, which, at this time, were cited
against the former " dutiful colony of Connecti-
cut."

One of the schemes that Connecticut's enemies
sought to carry out, both for their own advance-
ment, and as a proposed punishment for an
unruly colony, was a consolidation of the New
England provinces under a royal governor. This
consolidation was approached when Governor
Fletcher of New York was appointed military
chief of Connecticut. His attempt, in 1693, to
enforce his military authority over Connecticut
troops engaged in protecting the northern fron-
tier, resulted in his failure, and in his angry

•which the magistrates had read to him at his lodgings. —
Church Doc. Conn., i, p. 20.

a " We received no persecution than that of the tongue
until December, 1709." — Ibid., i, p. 42.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 181

report to the home authorities of Connecticut's
insubordination and disloyalty. The colony at
great expense sent Major Fitz-John Winthrop
to England to answer these charges. He was
successful in proving that Connecticut had not
exceeded her charter rights in her determination
to appoint her own military officers ; that, in the
wars, she had faithfully contributed her share to
the common defense ; and moreover, that it was
essential that she should have the immediate
control of her own troops to quell internal dis-
order, should it arise, or to repel the sudden
approach of an enemy upon her exposed borders.
Major Winthrop also succeeded in having the
colony's military obligations defined as the fur-
nishing to the common defense of a number of
her militia, proportionate to her population and
to be under their own officers, and in war time
a further draft of a hundred and twenty men to
be under the direct control of the governor of
New York. Notwithstanding the splendid suc-
cess of Winthrop' s mission, this same charge of
insubordination was repeated in a long and later
list of grievances against the colony.

The consolidation scheme was revived by the
appointment of Governor Bellomont over New
York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hamp-
shire, and as military head of Rhode Island and

182 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Connecticut; but the governor never tried to
enforce his authority in Connecticut. In 1701
and 1706, bills aiming at this proposed consoli-
dation were introduced into Parliament. That
of 1701 failed of consideration from " short-
ness of time and multiplicity of issues." In
1704 an attempt was made to secure the ap-
pointment of a royal governor over Connecticut
through an Order in Council, but that body
preferred to leave the matter to Parliament, —
hence the bill of 1706 favoring consolidation
which failed of passage in the Lords. It failed
largely because of the energy and eloquence of
Sir Henry Ashurst, the Connecticut agent.

Sir Henry also succeeded in getting a copy
of the various charges against the colony, which
were thought to justify annulling her charter,
and in obtaining a grant of time to submit them
to the Connecticut General Court for a reply.
The colony found that it was charged with en-
couraging violations of the Navigation Laws ;
with holding in contempt the Courts of Admi-
ralty ; with failing to furnish troops and to place
them under officers of the Crown ; with executing
capital punishment without any authority in her
charter ; with encouraging manufactures, con-
trary to the known wishes of the Crown ; with
irregular and unjust court proceedings ; with

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 183

treating contumaciously the royal commissioners
sent to settle the Mohegan land controversy ;
with injustice to the Quakers ; with forbidding
services of the Church of England ; and with
disallowing appeals to England. These were the
more important complaints. In behalf of the
colony, Sir Henry appeared before the Privy
Council, and in able argument showed that
many of the charges were without foundation ;
that some of the colony's acts which were com-
plained of as unlawful were well within her
charter privileges ; and that the decisions of her
courts, far from being illegal, had, in nearly
every case, when brought to the attention of the
English government, been approved by it. Fur-
ther than this, the Connecticut agent obtained a
stay in the proceedings of the Mohegan case,"

a The Mohegan Indians had sold certain lands to the colony
in 1659, Major John Mason acting as agent. These lands had
been conveyed to English proprietors. John Mason, the
major's grandson, representing his own and other interests,
pretended that both his grandfather and the Indians had been
overreached and wronged by the colony in the transaction ;
that the colony had taken more land than agreed upon from
the Indians, and had also seized some that belonged by private
purchase to the Mason heirs. For the sake of peace and the
credit of magnanimity, the government offered to the chief,
Owaneco, who represented the Indians, to pay them again for
the land, but Mason and his party resolved to prevent such a
settlement. One of them went to England with a false report
of extortion practiced upon the savages, and a commission was

184 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

though it was soon reopened and seriously men-
aced the colony until the settlement in her favor
in 1743. In the famous Liveen or Hallam case,
Connecticut opposed an appeal to the Crown,
because such an appeal would give the Privy
Council the right to interpret the charter and
pass upon the colony laws.a Though Sir Henry

sent out to investigate. Connecticut was willing to answer the
commissioners if they sought facts for a report, but when they
assumed the right to decide the question judicially, the colony
could only protest against their pretensions. The commission-
ers adjudged the land in dispute to the Indians and the Mason
party, and charged the colony nearly £600 and costs. The
colony appealed to the Crown and won the case in 1743 ; but
it was again appealed by Mason, and in this fashion dragged
along until after the Revolution, when the Indians were con-
tent to accept the reservation allotted by the State to them.
— C. W. Bowen, Boundary Disputes, pp. 25-27.

a John Liveen of New London in 16S9 left property to the
" ministry of the town." Major Fitz- John Winthrop and his
brother-in-law Edward Palmes were executors. Major Win-
throp was absent with the army on the northern frontier, but
made no objection to the probating of the will at a special
court in New London in 1689. This probating Major Palmes,
a former friend of Andros, declared void, since Andros had
ruled that all wills should be probated at Boston. Upon spe-
cial application of Mrs. Liveen, in 1690, the county court pro-
bated a copy of the will, since Palmes held the original. To
this probating the latter also objected on the ground that,
though the court had been again legalized, the " ministry "
referred to must be that recognized by the English law and not
the Congregational ministry of the town, — the only one then
existing. The colonial courts decided against him, and John
and Nicholas Hallam, the widow's sons by a former marriage,

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 185

Asliurst had succeeded in having many of the
charges dropped, the danger had been so great
to the colony that he privately advised the gov-
ernment to conciliate the Crown by protesting
its immediate readiness to fulfill all military
obligations, and, as a further proof of loyalty,
to repeal at once the old law of 1657 against
heretics which Queen Anne had just annulled
(October 11, 1705) at the request of the Quak-
ers. The General Court, as we have seen, fol-
lowed his advice, and repealed the law in so far
as it concerned Quakers. But this was not
enough to satisfy other dissenters in the colony.
The Rev. John Talbot had arrived in England
in 1706 to plead in person 80 for an American

virtually accepted the terms of the will and the court's deci-
sion by being parties to the sale of a portion of the Liveen
estate, the ship " Liveen." The estate could not be wholly
settled ; so the town continued to receive a regular dividend
until after the widow's death in 1698. Then the sons attempted
to contest the will. The Court of Assistants confirmed the
proceedings of the lower courts. Not satisfied with this deci-
sion, Nicholas Hallam went to England in 1700-1702, and was
allowed to plead his case before the Privy Council. Sir Henry
Ashurst held that the charter gave the right of final decision,
but the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations thought
otherwise, and it looked as if Hallam was to win his case,
when he was ordered to return to America and, because of
technicalities, to retake all the testimony. In 1704, because
of his acknowledged signature in the sale of the " Liveen,"
the suit was decided in favor of the colony. — F. M. Caulkins,
Hist, of New London, pp. 222-228.

186 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

bishop, and Colonel Heathcote in 1707 wrote 81
with respect to the Episcopalians in Connecticut
that it would be absolutely necessary to procure
an order from the Queen freeing the Church of
England people from the established rates, or
they would always be so poor as to be depend-
ent upon the Society for Propagating the Gos-
pel. He further asked the repeal of the law
whereby the Connecticut magistrates " refuse
liberty of conscience to those of the established
(English) church." Colonel Heathcote adds
that it would not be much more than had been
granted to the Quakers, and that it " would be
of the greatest service to the Church than can
at first sight be imagined."

So great was the importunity of the Con-
necticut Episcopalians, that, in 1708, Governor
Saltonstall wrote to England to disarm their
complaints against the colony. It looked as if
religious discontent might become a dangerous
thing. Koyal disfavor certainly would be. It
might be better to condone the lack of religious
uniformity among a few scattered dissenters,
differing among themselves, and to endure it, —
obnoxious as it was, — than to suffer the loss of
the Connecticut charter. Moreover, this tendency
to the spread of nonconformity might be con-
trolled by judicious legislation. Furthermore, it

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 187

would be politic to have upon the colony law-
book some relief for dissenters from its Estab-
lishment similar to the English statutes relieving
nonconformists there from adherence to the
Church of England. Hence the Toleration Act,
and, of necessity, the proviso in the act of the
following session of the General Court whereby
it approved the Saybrook Platform.

The Toleration Act was of no benefit to Roger-
ine or Quaker, who by their principles were for-
bidden to take the oath of allegiance that it
demanded. It was of little practical advantage
to Baptist or Episcopalian, but it was a move in
the right direction. According to its terms, dis-
senters, before the county courts, could qualify
for organization into distinct religious bodies by
taking the oath of fidelity to the crown, by deny-
ing transubstantiation and by declaring their
sober dissent from Congregationalism. They
could have such liberty, provided that it in
no way worked to the detriment of the church
established in the colony, — that is, the law did
not exclude any dissenter " from paying any
such (established) minister or town dues as are
or shall hereafter be due from him."

At best, such toleration would provide a rigorous
test of a dissenter's sincerity. He would have no-
thing of worldly advantage to gain and much to

188 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

lose as a " come-outer " from the Establishment.
Social prestige would remain almost entirely
within the state church. It would be to a man's
pecuniary advantage to stay within its fold.
Without it, he would be doubly taxed ; by the
State for the support of Congregationalism, by
his conscience to maintain the church it ap-
proved. If he lapsed in duty toward his own,
he would easily become a marked man among
his few co-religionists. If he failed to attend
regularly the church of his choice, the ancient
law of the colony would hale him before the
judge for neglect of public worship, and fine
him for the benefit of a form of religion which
he viewed with aversion as unscriptural, if not
also anti-Christian. In a new and thinly settled
country where life was hard and money scarce,
this double taxation was of itself almost prohibi-
tive of dissent. And yet this Toleration Act,
notwithstanding its meagre terms, and which,
considered in the light of the twentieth century,
implies one of the worst forms of tyranny, was a
measure of undreamed-of and dangerous liberal-
ity if looked at from the point of view of the six-
teenth century, or even from that of many princes
of the eighteenth. The very summer following
the passage of this act saw London crowded
with refugees from the religious tyranny of the

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 189

Palatinate, whose Elector was determined to
force the people, after over a hundred and thirty-
years of Protestantism, back to Rome because he
was himself a Romanist, and imperii religio
religio populi. The Connecticut law-makers
had a good deal of faith in this same prin-
ciple, though they never had resorted, and
did not wish to do so, to extreme penalties to
secure religious uniformity. The solidarity of
the people and the geographical position of the
colony had contributed largely to a uniform
church life. Far from the usual ports of entry,
the early dissenters had for the most part passed
her by. But at the beginning of the eighteenth
century, watching the signs of the times else-
where, and aware of the cosmopolitan element
creeping into her population, the Connecticut au-
thorities were ready to admit that soon it might
be necessary to modify somewhat the old dictum
that the religion of the government must be the
religion of all its people. England had seen fit
to make such modification, and her test of roughly
twenty years had shown conclusively that religious
toleration and civil disorders were not synony-
mous, as had formerly been believed. The Con-
necticut colony had no particular desire to fol-
low in England's steps. If it had, after-history
would have associated it in men's minds less with

190 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT

the Puritanical narrowness of New England and
more with such tolerance as was shown in Penn-
sylvania, Maryland, and Rhode Island. Toler-
ance, Connecticut thought, might work well
under a government like that of England, but
her leaders were not convinced that it would be
altogether wise for their own land. They, there-
fore, had preferred to postpone as long as they
could the possible evil day. Now that toleration
could no longer be delayed, they had admitted
it most guardedly, and at once had proceeded to
strengthen their own church foundations by the
establishment of the Saybrook system of eccle-
siastical government.

CHAPTER VIII

THE FIKST VICTORY FOR DISSENT

Ye shall not therefore oppress one another ; but thou shalt
fear thy God ; for I am the Lord your God. — Leviticus, xxv,
17.

The dissenters found the terms of the Toleration
Act too narrow ; the conditions under which they
could enjoy their own church life too onerous.
Consequently, they almost immediately began to
agitate for a larger measure of liberty, and per-
sisted in their demands for almost twenty years
before obtaining any decided success.

Foremost among the dissenters pressing for
greater liberty, for exemption from taxes for the
benefit of Congregational worship, and for the
same privileges in the support of their own
churches as the members of the Connecticut Es-
tablishment enjoyed, were the Episcopalians. The
year following the passage of the Toleration Act
witnessed the first persecution of these people
beyond that of tongue and pen. Fines and im-
prisonments began in earnest and were continued,
more or less frequently, for many years. Even
as late as 1748, the Episcopalians of Reading

192 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

were fined for reading the Prayer-book and for
working on public fast-days. Still later, in 1762,
there was occasional oppression, as in the case of
the New Milford Episcopalians. They desired to
build a church, but had to wait for the county
court to approve the site chosen. The court was
averse to the building of the church, and accord-
ingly was a long time in complying with this
technicality. Meanwhile, the Episcopalians could
not build, neither would they attend Congrega-
tional worship, and the magistrates, refusing to
recognize the services held in private houses, fined
them for absence from public worship. This
treatment was abandoned as soon as it became
known that the rector had counseled his people
to submit, as he intended to send a copy of the
court's proceedings to England to be passed upon
as to their legality. It was such petty, yet costly,
persecution as this that became frequent after
1709, and from which the Episcopalians were
determined to escape.

These Church-of -England men were increasing
in numbers in the colony, and, at the passage of
the Toleration Act, were quite hopeful that the
Rev. John Talbot's mission to England to secure
a bishop for America would prove successful.
Although he was not successful in obtaining the
episcopate, his mission received so much encour-

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 193

agement from those in high places that, upon
Talbot's return, a home for the prospective bishop
was purchased, in 1712, in Burlington, New-
Jersey. It was known that Queen Anne was
much interested in the proposed bishopric, and
letters were exchanged between the leaders of the
movement in England and the prominent Inde-
pendent clergymen in the colonies, in order to
sound the state of public opinion. A bill for the
American expansion of the Church of England,
as a branch to be severed from the jurisdiction
of the Bishop of London and to be planted in the
colonies under a bishop with full ecclesiastical
powers, was prepared and was ready for presen-
tation in Parliament when the Queen's death,
August 1, 1714, caused its withdrawal, and felled
the hopes of Churchmen. George I had too many
temporal affairs to occupy his mind to burden
himself with the intricate rights, powers, and
privileges of a new episcopate, sought by a few
colonials scattered through the American wilder-
ness ; — too many vexatious secular affairs in the
colonies, and too heavy war-clouds darkening his
European horizon. The Society for the Propa-
gation of the Gospel, in 1715, made one futile
attempt to interest the king, and then gave up
any hope of the immediate appointment of an
American bishop.

194 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

In the Connecticut colony, the Episcopalians
had so increased that, in 1718, there was in
Stratford a church of one hundred baptized per-
sons, thirty-six communicants, and a congregation
that frequently numbered between two and three
hundred people. They were ministered to by
traveling missionaries of the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel. When these Strat-
ford people appealed to the Society for a settled
minister, they complained that " there is not any
government in America but has our settled
Church and minister, but this of Connecticut." 82
Still all the Society could then do was to send
a missionary priest, and to keep alive in Eng-
land, among the powerful Church party there,
so keen an interest that it would seize upon the
first opportunity to use its great influence and
to compel the English government to force the
Connecticut authorities to comply with the de-
mands of the colonial Churchmen for the un-
restricted enjoyment of their religion. Such an
interest was kept up by the regular, full reports
which the Society required of all its missionaries.
And these reports, be it remembered, were ex-
pected to contain news of any kind, and of every-
thing that happened in the colony of Connecticut,
or elsewhere, that could possibly be turned to
advantage in influencing the home authorities, in

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 195

pushing the interests of the English Establish-
ment in America, and in strengthening its mem-
bership there. Although, after the death of Queen
Anne, the king's indifference checked the move-
ment for the American episcopate, its friends did
not abandon it, and a persistent effort for its
success was soon begun. One of its prime movers
was the Rev. George Pigott, missionary to Strat-
ford, Connecticut, in 1722.

Under Mr. Pigott, the Church of England in
Connecticut made a most encouraging and im-
portant gain, when, in 1722, Timothy Cutler,
Rector of Yale College, and six of his associates
proclaimed their dissatisfaction with Congrega-
tionalism, or, as they termed it, "the Presby-
terianism " of the Connecticut established church.
They asserted that " some of us doubt the valid-
ity, and the rest are more fully persuaded of
the invalidity of the Presbyterian ordination in
opposition to the Episcopal."

Three of these men remained in " doubt," and
continued within the Congregational church."
Four of them, Rector Timothy Cutler, Tutor
Daniel Brown, Rev. James Wetmore of North
Haven, and Rev. Samuel Johnson of West

° The Rev. John Hart of East Guilford, Samuel Whittlesey
of Wallingford, and Jared Ellis of Killingworth. These men
were always friendly to the Churchmen.

19G THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Haven, went to England to receive Episcopal
ordination.0 The story of their conversion is to
Churchmen an illustration of the scriptural com-
mand, " Cast your bread upon the waters and it
will return to you after many days." The Con-
necticut authorities had chosen the Rev. Timothy
Cutler because of his eloquence, and had sent
him to Stratford to counteract the early successes
of the Church-of -England missionary priests, who
were at work among the people there. Later, in
1719, Cutler, because of his abilities, was chosen
President, or Rector, of Yale, as, in the early
days, the head of the college was called. The
seeds of doubt had entered his mind during his
Stratford pastorate. He and his associates found
many books in the college library that, instead of
lessening, increased their doubts. After presid-
ing for three years over the greatest institution
of learning in the colony, which had for its object
the preparation of men for service in civil office
and, even more in those days, for service in reli-
gion, Rector Cutler, together with his associates,
announced their change of faith. The colony
was taken by storm, and there spread through-
out its length and breadth, and throughout New

a The Rev. Daniel Brown died in England. In the next
forty years, one tenth of those who crossed the sea for ordina-
tion porished from dangers incident to the trip.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 197

England also, a great fear that Episcopacy had
made a coup d'etat and was shortly to become the
established church of her colonies as well as of
England herself. Naturally, among the colonial
Churchmen, it excited the largest hope " of a
glorious revolution among the ecclesiastics of the
country, because the most distinguished gentle-
men among them are resolutely bent to promote
her (the Church's) welfare and embrace her bap-
tism and discipline, and if the leaders fall in
there is no doubt to be made of the people." 83

These hopes were in a degree confirmed by the
conversion of one or two more ministers, and by
the Yale men that the classes of 1723, 1724,
1726, 1729, and 1733 gave to Episcopacy. By
the impetus of these conversions, within a gen-
eration, " the Episcopal Church under a native
born minister had penetrated every town, had
effected lodgment in every Puritan stronghold,
and had drawn into her membership large num-
bers of that sober-minded, self-contained, tena-
cious people who constitute the membership of
New England to-day." 84 After the conversions of
1722, the movement for the apostolic episcopate
in America became more determined, and never
wholly ceased until the consecration of Samuel
Seabury as bishop of Connecticut in 1784.

A decided change took place in Connecticut's

198 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

policy upon the death of Governor Saltonstall in
1724, and under his successor in office, former
Lieutenant-Governor Joseph Talcott. The new
governor was a Hartford man, more liberal in
his ecclesiastical opinions and opposed to severe
measures against dissenters. Hardly had Gover-
nor Talcott taken office when Edmund Gibson,
Bishop of London, wrote him, urging in behalf
of the Episcopalians a remittance of ecclesiastical
taxes. "If I ask anything," wrote the Bishop,
" inconsistent with the laws of the country, I beg
pardon ; but if not, I hope my request for favors
for the Church of England will not appear un-
reasonable." The Bishop accompanied his letter
with a paper, a copy of a circular letter to the
different colonial governors, in which, among
other matters relating to his clergy, he professed
his readiness to discipline them if necessary " in
order to contribute to the peace and honor of the
government." This proposal was due, in part, to
the scandalous reputation in New England which
the southern settled clergy bore. Because of this
reputation, the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel had from the first made a special point of
the morals of their missionary priests. Indeed,
these priests, themselves, had warned the Society
that, if it expected any returns from its missions in
New England, it would have to take great pains

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 199

to send out a superior class of men. Governor
Talcott replied to Bishop Gibson, under date of
December 1, 1725,ffl " that there is but one Church
of England minister in this colony,6 and the
church with him have the same protection as the
rest of our Churches and are under no constraint
to contribute to the support of any other minis-
ter." After reflecting upon the number and
character of the few persons in another town or
two " who claim exemption from rates," Gover-
nor Talcott quotes the colony law for the support
of the ministry in every town, and adds that,
upon the death of an incumbent, the townspeople
" are quickly supplied by persons of our own
communion, educated in our public schools of
Learning; which through divine blessing afforded
us,*we have sufficiency of those who are both
learned and exemplary in their lives." This was
a polite way of informing the bishop that Con-
necticut preferred to do without his missionaries.
It was one thing for the tolerant governor to
grant exemption from Congregational taxes in
the case of an influential church like that of

a This year the home influence of the Church of England
had been brought to bear with sufficient pressure to forbid the
calling of a general synod of the New England churches which
had been desired, and towards which Massachusetts had taken
the initial step. See A. L. Cross, Anglican Episcopate, pp. 67-70.

6 Stratford.

200 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Stratford, and quite another to extend the same
toleration to every scattered handful of people
who might claim to be members of the Church
of England, and who might welcome the coming
of her missionary priests.

The Episcopalians, however, were not content
to rest their privileges upon their numerical
power in each little town, or upon the personal
favor of the magistrates. They therefore con-
tinued their agitation for exemption from support
of Congregationalism and from fines for neglect-
ing its public worship. Under the lead of the
wardens and vestry of Fairfield, they obtained
favor with the General Court in 1727,° when
an act was passed, " providing how taxes levied
upon members of the Church of England for the
support of the Gospel should be disposed of,"
and exempting said members from paying any
taxes " for the building of meeting houses for
the present established Churches of this govern-
ment." The law further declared that if within
the parish bounds —

there be a Society of ye Church of England, where
there is a person in orders, according to ye Canons
of ye Church of England, settled and abiding among

a This same year, George I granted to Bishop Gibson a
patent confirming1 the jurisdiction which, as Bishop of London,
he claimed over the Church of England in the colonies. George
II renewed the patent in 1728-29.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 201

them and performing divine service so near to any
person that hath declared himself of ye Church of
England, that he can conveniently and doth attend
ye public worship there, then the collectors, having
first indifferently levied ye tax, as aforesaid, shall
deliver ye taxes collected of such persons declaring
themselves, and attending as aforesaid, unto ye minis-
ter of ye Church of England, living near unto such
persons ; which minister shall have power to receive
and recover ye same, in order to his support in ye place
assigned to him.

But if such proportion of any taxes be not suffi-
cient in any Society of ye Church of England to sup-
port ye incumbent there, then such Society may levy
and collect of them who profess and attend as afore-
said, greater taxes, at their own discretion, to ye sup-
port of their ministers.

And the parishoners of ye Church of England,
attending as aforesaid, are hereby excused from pay-
ing any taxes for ye building meeting houses for ye
present Established Churches of this government. 85

After the passing of this law, the magistrates
contented themselves with occasional unfair
treatment of the weaker churches. They some-
times haggled over the interpretation of the
terms "near" and "conveniently" as found in
the law. They objected to the appointment of
one missionary to several stations or towns.
They also did not always enforce upon the Pres-

202 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

byterian collectors strict accuracy in making out
their lists, and when the Episcopalians sought
redress for unreturned taxes or unjust fines,
they found their lawsuits blocked in the courts.
The magistrates, also, showed almost exclusive
preference for Congregationalists as bondsmen
for strangers settling in the towns, while the
courts continued to frequently refuse or to delay
the approval of sites chosen for the erection
of Episcopal churches.

Finally, there was a certain amount of political
and social ostracism directed against Church-
men. A notable attempt to defraud the Epis-
copalians of a due share of the school money, de-
rived from the sale of public lands and from the
emission of public bills, was defeated in 1738
by a spirited protest, setting forth the illegality
of the proceeding, the probable indignation of
the King at such treatment of his good subjects
and brethren in the faith, and by pointing to the
fact, as recently shown by a test case in Massa-
chusetts, that the Connecticut Establishment it-
self could not exist without the special consent
of the King.86 The petition was signed by six
hundred and thirty-six male inhabitants of the
colony. They asserted in their protest that they
had a share in equity derived from the charter ;
that they bore their share of the expenses of the

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 203

government ; and that the teaching of the Church
of England made just as good citizens as did that
of the Presbyterian Church. The public lands,
from the sale of which the school money was
derived, were those along the Housatonic river.
The money was appropriated according to a law
enacted in 1732 which distributed it among the
older towns as a reward for good schools. But,
in 1738, the legislature passed a bill by which
a majority vote of the town or parish could divert
the money to the support of " the gospel minis-
try as by law in the colony established." Natu-
rally this new law operated against all dissenters,
who, equally anxious with the Congregationalists
to have good schools, were an ignored minority
whenever the latter chose to vote the money to
the support of their church. As a result of this
spirited protest of the Episcopalians, the enact-
ment of 1738 was repealed two years later " be-
cause of misunderstanding." Notwithstanding
such hardships as the Episcopalians suffered in
Connecticut, their own writers declare that, at
this period of colonial history, the Churchmen in
Connecticut had less to complain of than their
co-religionists in New York and in the southern
colonies.

While the Episcopalians were agitating for a
larger liberty than that granted by the Toleration

204 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Act, the other dissenters, Rogerines, Quakers,
and Baptists, were not idle.

The efforts of the Rogerines were marked more
by violence than by success. They had become
less fanatic, and persecution had died away during
the first ten years following the passage of the
Toleration Act. All might have gone smoothly
had they not suddenly stirred Governor Salton-
stall to renewed dislike, the magistrates to fresh
alarm, and the people to great contempt and in-
dignation. This they accomplished by a sort of
mortuary tribute to their leader, John Rogers,
who died in 1721. This tribute took the form
of renewed zeal, and was marked by a revival of
some of their most obnoxious practices. The
Rogerines determined to break up the observance
of the Puritan Sabbath. Immediately, an " Act
for the Better Detecting and more effectual Pun-
ishment of Prophaneness and Immorality " was
passed. It was especially directed against the
Rogerines. Its most striking characteristic was
that it changed the policy of the government from
the time-honored Anglo-Saxon theory that every
man is innocent until proved guilty, to the doc-
trine that a man, accused, must be guilty until
proved innocent. In so oft-recurring a charge
as that of being absent from public worship, it
became lawful to exact fines unless the accused

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 205

could prove before a magistrate that he had been
present. But this first act did not dampen suffi-
ciently the renewed zeal of the Rogerines, and
for two years there was a continuance of sharp
legislation to reduce their disorderliness. They
were fined five shillings for leaving their houses
on Sunday unless to attend the orthodox worship,
and twenty shillings for gathering in meeting-
houses without the consent of the ministers. They
were given a month, or less, in the house of cor-
rection, and at their own expense for board, for
each offense of unruly or noisy behavior on Sun-
day near any meeting-house ; for unlawful travel
or behavior on that day ; and for refusal to pay
fines assessed for breaking any of the colony's
ecclesiastical laws. These laws87 were enforced
one Sunday in 1725 against a company of Rog-
erines who were going quietly on their way
through Norwich to attend services in Lebanon.
The outburst of religious fervor spent itself in
two or three years. Governor Talcott did not
believe in strong repressive measures, and it was
soon conceded that the ignoring of their eccen-
tricities, if kept within reasonable bounds, was
the most efficient way to discourage the Rogerines.
Summarizing the influence of this sect, we find
that they contributed nothing definite to the slow
development of religious toleration in Connecticut.

206 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

If anything, their fanaticism hindered its growth,
and they gained little for themselves and nothing
for the cause. As the years went on and their
little sect were permitted to indulge their pecul-
iar notions, and the props of the State were
not weakened nor the purity of religion vitally
assailed, the Rogerines contributed their mite to-
wards convincing mankind, and the Connecticut
people in particular, that brethren of different
creeds and religious practices might live together
in security and harmony without danger to the
civil peace.

During the seventeen years that Governor
Talcott held office, 1724-41, the life of the
colony was marked by its notable expansion
through the settlement of new towns,0 and by
the dexterity with which its foreign affairs — its
relations to England and its boundary disputes
with its neighbors — were conducted. The last
dragged on for years, calling for several expensive
commissions and causing much confusion. The
Massachusetts line was determined in 1713 ; that
of Rhode Island in 1728 ; and that of New York
in 1735. Connecticut, in all these cases, had to
be wary lest the attempts to settle these disputed
claims should weary, antagonize, or anger the

« Between 1700 and 1741 more than thirty new towns were
organized, making twice as many as in 1700.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 207

King.88 Many of the old charges were renewed,
and Connecticut was no longer regarded as a
" dutiful " colony, but rather as one altogether
too independent, from whom it might be wise to
wrest her charter, subjecting her to a royal gov-
ernor. As early as 1715, her colonial agent had
been advised to procure a peaceable surrender of
the charter. To this proposal, Governor Salton-
stall had returned a courteous and dignified re-
fusal. But the danger was always cropping up.
Governor Talcott's English official correspond-
ence is full of details concerning Connecticut's
increasing anxiety concerning the attitude and
the decisions of the home government ; over the
dangers consequent to her institutions or to her
charter. It was repeatedly suggested that that
charter should be surrendered, modified in favor
of the King's supervision, or annulled. In the
Governor's letters, one follows the intricacies of
the boundary disputes, of the complicated Mohe-
gan case, and sounds the dangers to the colony
from the disposition and decisions of the Crown.89
One case in particular demands a passing
consideration because of its far-reaching effects,
and because it paralleled in time the legislation
in the colony which broadened the Toleration
Act. This was the famous case of John Win-
throp against his brother-in-law, Thomas Lech-

208 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

mere, to recover real estate left by the elder
Winthrop to his son and daughter. The suit
brought up the whole question of land entail in
Connecticut, and, with it, the possibility of an
economic and social revolution in the colony
which would have been the death-blow to its
prosperity. Winthrop, by appealing the case to
England, brought Connecticut into still greater
disfavor, and risked the loss of the charter, to-
gether with many special privileges in religion
and politics which the colony enjoyed through a
liberal interpretation of that instrument. In the
course of the suit, the constitutional relations of
Crown and colony had to be threshed out.

John Winthrop's father died in 1717, when,
according to Connecticut, but not English, law
of primogeniture, Winthrop received as eldest
son a double portion of his father's real estate,
and his sister, Thomas Lechmere's wife, the rest.
Winthrop's brother-in-law was not a man wholly
to be trusted to deal justly with his wife's pro-
perty ; but this, in itself, was a very small factor
in the suit. Winthrop was at variance with the
Connecticut authorities, and was dissatisfied with
his share both of his father's property and of
his uncle's, whose heir he was. No matter how
much his own personal interests might endanger
the colony, Winthrop resolved to have all the

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 209

property due him as eldest son and heir under
English law. He appealed his case to England,
taking it directly from the local probate court,
and ignoring the Court of Assistants, where he
might have obtained some redress. Moreover, to
influence the decision in his favor he included
in his list of grievances many of the old offenses
charged against Connecticut. He did this, even
while acknowledging that the colonial Intestate
Act, framed in 1699,90 was but the embodiment
of custom that had existed from the beginning
of the colony. While this case dragged on, it
was again intimated to Connecticut that the
surrender of her charter, or at least the sub-
stitution of an explanatory charter, might be an
acceptable price for the royal confirmation of
her Intestate Law. Finally, Winthrop went to
England, and was given a private hearing, at
which no representative of the colony was pre-
sent. As a result of this hearing, an order in
Council was issued February 15, 1728, annul-
ling the Connecticut Intestate Act as contrary to
the laws of England and as exceeding charter
rights. Moreover, the colonial authorities were
ordered to measure off the lands, claimed by
Winthrop, and to restore them to him.

Of course, it would take some time to obey the
order. Meanwhile, if this restitution were made,

210 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

if the decision were submitted to, it would in-
validate so many land titles as to threaten the
very existence of Connecticut's economic struc-
ture. The colony sought the best legal talent
obtainable. For seventeen years Connecticut con-
tinued this expensive lawsuit, urging always her
willingness to comply in the case of Winthrop, if
only the decision be made a special one and not
a precedent, — if only an order in Council, or an
act of Parliament, would reinstate the Connecti-
cut Intestate Law. Her agents in England were
instructed to demonstrate how well the colonial
division of property had worked, and that under
the English division, where all real estate went
to the eldest son, if it were practiced in a new
and heavily wooded country, whose chief wealth
was agriculture, the rental of lands would yield
income barely sufficient to pay taxes and repair
fences, and there coidd be no dowry for the
daughters. A still further result would be, that
the younger sons would be driven into manufac-
turing or forced to emigrate. In each case the
Crown would suffer, either by the loss of a colo-
nial market for its manufactured products, or
by an impoverished colony, incapable of mak-
ing satisfactory returns to the royal treasury.91
Moreover, in the case of emigration, when Con-
necticut, lacking men to plow her Holds, could

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 211

no longer produce the foodstuffs the surplus of
which she sold to the " trading parts of Massa-
chusetts and Rhode Island " to supply the fish-
eries, the Crown would feel still another baneful
effect from its attempt to enforce the English
law of entail. Again, there was another aspect
from which to view the annulment of the Con-
necticut Intestate Law. Its annulment would
render worthless many past and present land-
titles. Creditors who had accepted land for debt
would suffer. Titles to lands, held by towns, as
well as individuals, would become subject to liti-
gation ; the whole colony would be plunged into
lawsuits, and its economic framework would be rent
in pieces. The Intestate Law was in accordance
with custom throughout New England. When in
1737 a similar statute in Massachusetts was sus-
tained by the King in Council in the appeal of
Phillips vs. Savage, Connecticut, notwithstanding
the renewed and repeated suggestions to give up
her charter, took courage to continue the contest.
During these years the question of the con-
stitutional relation of colony and Crown was fre-
quently raised, and Connecticut was called upon
to show that her laws were not contrary to
the laws of England. She had to prove that
they were not contrary to the common law of
England ; nor to the statute law, existing at the

212 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

founding of the colony ; nor to those acts of
Parliament that had been expressly extended to
the colony. This was the most commonly held
of the three interpretations of " not contrary
to the laws of England." The most restricted
interpretation was that all colonial laws higher
than by-laws, and " which even within that term
touched upon matters already provided for by
English common or statute law, were illegal " or
" contrary." Under this interpretation, " the
colonies were as towns upon the royal demesne."
Connecticut herself held to a third construction,
maintaining that, as her own charter nowhere
stipulated that her administration should accord
with the civil, common, or statute law of Eng-
land, she, at least, among the colonies was free
to frame her own laws according to her own
needs and desires. Holding to this opinion,
which had never been corrected by the Crown,
Connecticut maintained that " contrary to the
laws of England " was limited in its intent to
contrary to those laws expressly designed by
Parliament to extend to the plantations. More-
over, Connecticut insisted that the colonies were
not to be compared to English towns, because,
unlike the towns, they had no representation
in Parliament. The Connecticut Intestate Act
was opposed to the English law according to the

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 213

first two interpretations, but not according to
the third. Further, the Connecticut authorities
felt that if the conditions which had given' rise
to the law were fully realized in England, the
apparent insubordination of the colony would
disappear in the light of the real equity of the
colonial statute. In Governor Talcott's letter,
dated November 3, 1729, under " The Case of
Connecticut Stated," there is a summary of
the reasons why the colony hesitated to appeal
directly to Parliament for a confirmation of the
Intestate Act. She was afraid of exciting still
greater disfavor by seeming to ask privileges in
addition to those already conferred upon her
in her very liberal charter. She was afraid of
courting inquiry in regard to her ecclesiastical
laws, her laws relating to the collegiate school,
and also sundry civil laws. The colony feared
that the result of such an investigation would be
that she would thereafter be rated, not as a gov-
ernment or province, but as a corporation with
a charter permitting only the enactment of by-
laws. Moreover, she dreaded to be ranked with
" rebellious Massachusetts," and thus further
expose herself to a probable loss of her charter.
After contesting the decision against her for
many years, at last in 1746 she virtually won
her case through a decision given in England in

214 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

the suit of Clarke vs. Tousey,92 — a suit which
had been appealed from the colony, and which
presented much the same claim as Winthrop's.
The decision in favor of Clarke was equivalent
to a recognition of Connecticut's Intestacy Law.
It has been pointed out that, important as the
Winthrop controversy was from the economic
standpoint, it was equally important as fore-
shadowing the legislation of the English govern-
ment some thirty years later, and as defining
the relation of colony and Crown. Moreover, in
1765, as in 1730, " economic causes and condi-
tions," writes Professor Andrews in his discus-
sion of the Connecticut Intestacy Law, " drove
the colonists into opposition to England quite
as much as did theories of political independence,
or of so-called self-evident rights of man."

It was during the continuance of this trouble-
some Winthrop suit, while boundary lines were
still unsettled, while as yet the Mohegan titles
remained in dispute, while the most grievous
charge of encouraging home manufactures, and
many other complaints were brought against Con-
necticut, — it was in the midst of her perplexities
and conflicting interests that the dissenters within
her borders sought greater religious liberty. They
sought it, not only through their own local
efforts, but through the strength of their friends

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 215

in England, who brought all their influence to
bear upon the home government. With such
help Episcopalians had won exemption in 1727,
and within two years Quakers and Baptists were
accorded similar freedom.

Connecticut Quakers, though few in numbers,
were very determined to have their rights. From
1706, the Newport Yearly Meeting had encour-
aged the collecting and recording of all cases of
" sufferance.'' In 1714, at the close of Queen
Anne's War (1702-13), the Newport Yearly
Meeting reported to that of London that " there
is much suffering on account of the Indians at
the Eastward, yet not one (of ours) had fallen
during the last year, Travelling preachers hav-
ing frequently visited those parts without the
least harm. . . . Friends in several places
have suffered deeply on account of not paying
presbyterian priests, and for the Refusing to
bear Armes, an Account of which we Doe here-
with Send." In 1715, the English law had
granted them the perpetual privilege of substi-
tuting affirmation for oath. The Quakers were
determined to have the same freedom in the colo-
nies as in England. Accordingly, they watched
with interest the test case between the Quaker
constables of Duxbury and Tiverton, — both,
then, under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, —

216 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

and the authorities of that colony. Fines and
persecutions were so much alike in Connecticut
and Massachusetts that a dissenter's victory in
one colony would go far towards obtaining ex-
emption in the other. The Quaker constables
had refused to collect the church rate, and for
this refusal were thrown into prison. Thereupon
a petition, with many citations from the colony
law books, was sent to England, begging that
the prisoners be released and excused from their
fines, and that such unjust laws be annulled.
The Privy Council ordered the prisoners released
and their fine remitted. This decision was ren-
dered in 1724, and, with the success of the
Episcopalians three years later, still further
encouraged both Quakers and Baptists to seek
relief from ecclesiastical taxes and fines. Two
years later, in May, 1729, the Quakers appealed
to the Connecticut Court for such exemption, and
were released from contributing to the support
of the established ministry and from paying any
tax levied for building its meeting-houses, pro-
vided they could show a certificate from some
society of their own (either within the colony or
without it, if so near its borders that they could
regularly attend its services) vouching for their
support of its worship and their presence at its
regular meetings.93

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 217

Turning to the Baptists, the oppressive mea-
sures employed to make them violate their con-
science ceased on the inauguration of Governor
Talcott in 1724. Thereafter, those among them
who conformed to the requirements of the Toler-
ation Act received some measure of freedom.
To the neighborly interest of the Association of
Baptist Churches of North Kingston, Rhode
Island, and to the influence of leading Baptists
in that colony, including among them its gov-
ernor (who subjoined a personal note to the
Association's appeal to the Connecticut Gen-
eral Court), was due the favor of the Court ex-
tended in October, 1729,94 to the Baptists,
whereby they were granted exemption upon the
same terms as those offered the Quakers.

Thus in barely twenty years from the passage
of the Toleration Act, Episcopalian, Quaker,
and Baptist had driven the thin edge of a de-
stroying wedge into the foundations of the Con-
necticut Establishment. Each dissenting body
was pitifully small in absolute strength, and they
had no inclination toward united action. Quak-
ers and Baptists were required to show certif-
icates, a requirement soon to be considered in
itself humiliating. The new laws we're neg-
ative, in that they empowered the assessor to
omit to tax those entitled to exemption, but they

218 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

provided no penalty to be enforced against asses-
sors who failed to make such omission. Indeed,
in individual cases, the laws might seem to be
scarcely more than an admission of the right to
exemption. However, it was an admission that
a century's progress had brought the knowledge
that brethren of different religious opinions could
dwell together in peace. It was an exemption
by which the government admitted, as well as
claimed, the right of choice in religious worship.
It was a far cry to the acknowledgment that a
man was free to think his own thoughts and fol-
low his own convictions, provided they did not
interfere with the rights of other men. The new
laws were a concession by a strongly intrenched
church to the natural rights of weaker ones,
whose title to permanency it greatly doubted.
They were a concession by a government whose
best members felt it to be the State's moral and
religious obligation to support one form of reli-
gion and to protect it at the cost, if neces-
sary, of all other forms, — a concession, by
such a government, to a very small minority
of its subjects, holding the same appreciation of
their religious duty as that which had nerved
the founders of the colony. It was a concession
by the community to a very few among their
number, who were divergent in church polity and

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 219

practice but who were united in a Protestant
creed and in the conviction, held then by every
respectable citizen, that every man should be
made to attend and support some accepted and
orgamzed form of Christian worship

CHAPTER IX

"THE GREAT AWAKENING."

Wake, awake, for night is flying- :

The watchmen on the heights are crying,

Awake, Jerusalem, arise ! — Advent Hymn.

The opposition of Episcopalian, Quaker, and
Baptist to the Connecticut Establishment, if
measured by ultimate results, was important
and far-reaching. But it was dwarfed almost to
insignificance, so feeble was it, so confined its
area, when compared to that opposition which,
thirty-five years after the Saybrook Synod and
a dozen years after the exemption of the dissent-
ers, sprang up within the bosom of the Congre-
gational church itself, as a protest against civil
enactments concerning religion. This protest
was a direct result of the moral and spiritual
renascence that occurred in New England and
that became known as the " Great Awakening."
History in all times and countries shows a
periodicity of religious activity and depression.
It would sometimes seem as if these periodic
outbreaks of religious aspirations were but the

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 221

last device of self-seeking, — were but attempts
to find consolation for life's hardships and to se-
cure happiness hereafter. Fortunately such selfish
motives are transmuted in the search for larger
ethical and spiritual conceptions. An enlarged
insight into the possibilities of living tends to
slough off selfishness and to make more habitual
the occasional, and often involuntary, response to
Christlike deeds and ideals. But so ingrained is
our earthly nature that, in communities as in
nations, periods alternate with periods, and the
pendulum swings from laxity to morality, from
apathy to piety, gradually shortening its arc. So
in Connecticut, numbers of her towns from time
to time had been roused to greater interest in
religion before the spiritual cyclone of the great
revival, or " Great Awakening," swept through
the land in 1740 and the two following years.
The earlier and local revivals were generally
due to some special calamity, as sickness, failure
of harvest, ill-fortune in war, or some unusual
occurrence in nature, such as an earthquake
or comet, with the familiar interpretation that
Jehovah was angry with the sins of his people.
Sometimes, however, the zeal of a devoted min-
ister would kindle counter sparks among his
people. Such a minister was the Rev. Solomon
Stoddard, who mentions five notable revivals, or

222 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

" harvests," a as he calls them, during his sixty
years of ministry in the Northampton church.
A few other New England towns had similar re-
vivals, but they were brief and rare.

Notwithstanding these occasional local " stir-
rings of the heart," at the beginning of the second
quarter of the eighteenth century a cold, formal
piety was frequently the covering of indifferent
living and of a smug, complacent Christianity,
wherein the letter killed and the spirit did not
give life. This was true all over New England,
and elsewhere. Nor was this deadness confined
to the colonies alone, for the Wesleys were soon
to stir the sluggish current of English religious
life. In New England, the older clergymen, like
the Mathers of Massachusetts, conservative men,
whose memories or traditions were of the golden
age of Puritanism, had long bemoaned the loss
of religious interest, the inability of reforming
synods to create permanent improvement, and the
helplessness of ecclesiastical councils or of civil
enactments to rouse the people from the real
" decay of piety in the land," and from their in-
difference to the immorality that was increasing
among them. This indifference grew in Connecti-
cut after the Saybrook Platform had laid a firm
hold upon the churches. Its discipline created a

° At Northampton in 1C80, 1684, 1697, 1713, and 1719.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 223

tendency, on the one hand, to hard and narrow
ecclesiasticism, and, on the other, to careless living
on the part of those who were satisfied with a
mere formal acceptance of the principles of re-
ligion and with the bare acknowledgment of the
right of the churches to their members' obedi-
ence.0

It is a great mistake [writes Jonathan Edwards]
if any one imagines that all these external perform-
ances (owning the covenant, accepting the sacraments,
observing the Sabbath and attending the ministry),
are of the nature of a profession of anything that be-
longs to saving grace, as they are commonly used and
understood. . . . People are taught that they may
use them all, and not so much as make any pretence
to the least degree of sanctifying grace ; and this is
the established custom. So they are used and so they
are understood. ... It is not unusual . . . for per-
sons, at the same time they come into the church and
pretend to own the covenant, freely to declare to their
neighbors, that they have no imagination that they
have any true faith in Christ or love to Him.95

The General Court, relieved from the over-
sight of the churches, had bent itself to preserv-
ing the colony's charter rights from its enemies

a As early even as 1711, the Hartford North Association
suggested some reformation in the Half- Way Covenant prac-
tice because it noted that persons, lax in life, were being ad-
mitted under its terms of church membership.

224 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

abroad, and to the material interests involved in
a conservative, wise, and energetic home devel-
opment. The people's thoughts were with the
Court more than with the clergy, who had fallen
from a healthy enthusiasm in their profession
into a sort of spiritual deadness and dull accept-
ance of circumstances.96 As a sort of corollary
to Stoddard's teaching that the Lord's Supper
was itself a means toward attaining salvation, it
followed that clergymen, though they felt no
special call to their ministry, were nevertheless
believed to be worthy of their office. The older
theology of New England had tended to morbid
introspection. Stoddard, in avoiding that dan-
ger, had thrown the doors of the Church too
widely open, and the result was a gradual under-
mining of its spiritual power. The continued
acceptance of the Half -Way Covenant, " laxative
rather than astringent in its nature," helped to
produce a low estimate of religion. The tender-
ness that the Cambridge Platform had encour-
aged towards " the weakest measure of faith "
had broadened into such laxity that, in many
cases, ministers were willing to receive accounts
of conversions which had been written to order
for the applicants for church membership. The
Church, moreover, had come directly under the
control of politics, a condition never conducive

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 225

to its purity. The law of 1717, " for the better
ordering and regulating parishes or societies,"
had made the minister the choice of the major-
ity of the townsmen who were voters. This re-
versed the early condition of the town, merged
by membership into the church, to a church
merged into the town.97 There was still another
factor, often the last and least willingly recog-
nized in times of religious excitement, namely,
the commercial depression throughout the coun-
try, resulting from years of a fluctuating cur-
rency. This depression contributed largely to
the revival movement, and helped to spread the
enthusiasm of the Great Awakening. Connecti-
cut's currency had been freer from inflation than
that of other New England colonies. But her
paper money experiments in the years from 1714
to 1749 grew more and more demoralizing. Up
to 1740, Connecticut had issued £156,000 in
paper currency. At the time of the Great Awak-
ening she had still outstanding £39,000 for
which the colony was responsible. Of this, all
but £6000 had been covered by special taxation.
There still remained, however, about .£33,000
which had been lent to the various counties.
Taxation was heavy, wages low and prices high,
and there was not a man in the colony who did
not feel the effect of • the rapidly depreciating

226 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

currency.98 This general depression fell upon a
generation of New En glanders whose minds no
longer dwelt preeminently upon religious mat-
ters, but who were, on the contrary, preeminently
commercial in their interests.

Such were the general conditions throughout
New England and such the low state of reli-
gion in Connecticut, when, in the Northampton
church, Solomon Stoddard's grandson, the great
Jonathan Edwards, in December, 1734, preached
the sermons which created the initial wave of a
great religious movement. This religious revival
spread slowly through generally lax New Eng-
land, and through the no less lax Jerseys, and
through the backwoods settlements of Pennsyl-
vania, until it finally swept the southern colonies.
At the time, 1738, the Kev. George Whitefield
was preaching in Carolina, and acceptably so to
his superior, Alexander Garden, the Episcopal
commissary to that colony. Touched by the
enthusiasm of the onflowing religious movement,
WhitefiekTs zeal and consequent radicalism, as
he swayed toward the Congregational teaching
and practices, soon put him in disfavor with his
fellow Churchmen. Such disfavor only raised
the priest still higher in the opinion of the dis-
senters, and they flocked to hear his eloquent
sermons. Whitefield soon decided to return to

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 227

England. There he encountered the great revival
movement which was being conducted, princi-
pally by the Wesleys, and he at once threw
himself into the work. Meanwhile, he had con-
ceived a plan for a home for orphans in Georgia,
and, a little later, he determined upon a visit to
New England in its behalf. Upon his arrival in
Boston in 1740, the Rev. George Whitefield was
welcomed with open arms. Great honor was paid
him. Crowds flocked to hear him, and he was
sped with money and good-will throughout New
England as he journeyed, preaching the gospel,
and seeking alms for the southern orphanage.
His advent coincided in time with the reviving
interest in religion, especially in Connecticut.
Interest over the revival of 1735 had centred
on that colony the eyes of the whole non-liturgi-
cal English-speaking world. Whitefield's preach-
ing was to this awakening religious enthusiasm
as match to tinder.

The religious passion, kindled in 1735 by Ed-
wards, and hardly less by his devoted and spirit-
ually-minded wife, had in Connecticut swept over
Windsor, East Windsor, Coventry, Lebanon,
Durham, Stratford, Ripton, New Haven, Guil-
ford, Mansfield, Tolland, Hebron, Bolton, Pres-
ton, Groton, and Woodbury." The period of
this first " harvest " was short. The revival had

228 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

swept onward, and indifference seemed once
more to settle down upon the land. But the
news of the revival in Connecticut had reached
England through letters of Dr. Benjamin Cole-
man of Boston. His account of it had created so
much interest that Jonathan Edwards was per-
suaded to write for English readers his " Narra-
tive of the Surprising Work of God." Editions
of this book appeared in 1737-38 in both Eng-
land and America, and all Anglo-Saxon non-
prelatical circles pored over the account of the
recent revival in Connecticut. Religious enthu-
siasm revived, and was roused to a high pitch
by Whitefield's itinerant preaching, as well as
by that of Jonathan Edwards, and by the visit
to New England of the Rev. Gilbert Tennant,
one of two brothers who had created widespread
interest by their revival work in New Jersey.
A religious furor, almost mania, spread through
New England, and the " Great Awakening "
came in earnest.

The Rev. George "VYhitefield reached New-
port, Rhode Island, in September, 1740. Crowds
flocked to hear him during his brief visit there.
In October, he proceeded to Boston, where he
preached to enthusiastic audiences, including all
the hio-h dignitaries of Church and State. Dur-
ing his ten days' sojourn in the city, no praise

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 229

was too fulsome, no honor too great. Whitefield
next went to Northampton, drawn by his desire
to visit Edwards. After a week of conference
with the great divine, Whitefield passed on
through Connecticut, preaching as he went, and
devoted the rest of the year to itinerating through
the other colonies. Already his popularity had
been too much for him, and he frequently took
it upon himself to upbraid, in no measured
terms, the settled ministry for lack of earnest-
ness in their calling and lack of Christian char-
acter. This visit of Whitefield was followed by
one from the Rev. Gilbert Tennant, who arrived
in Boston in December, and spent his time, until
the following March, preaching in Massachu-
setts and Connecticut. Tennant was also out-
spoken in his denunciations, and both men, while
sometimes justified in their criticisms, were fre-
quently hasty and censorious in their judgments
of those who differed from them.

Ministers throughout New England were
quick to support or to oppose the revival move-
ment, and a goodly number of them, as itiner-
ants, took up the evangelical work. Dr. Colman
and Dr. Sewall of Boston, Jonathan Edwards
and Dr. Bellamy of Connecticut, were among
the most influential divines to support the Great
Awakening, — to call the revival by the name

230 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

by which it was to go down in history. Unfor-
tunately, among the aroused people, there were
many who pressed their zeal beyond the rev-
erent bounds set by these leaders. The religious
enthusiasm rushed into wild ecstasies during the
preaching of the almost fanatic Rev. James
Davenport of Southold, and of those itinerant
preachers who, ignorant and carried away by
emotions beyond their control, attempted to fol-
low his example.

During this religious fever there were times
when all business was suspended. Whole com-
munities gave themselves up to conversion and
to passing through the three or more distinct
stages of religious experience which Jonathan
Edwards, as well as the more ignorant itinerants,
accepted as signs of the Lord's compassion.
Briefly stated, these stages were, first, a heart-
rending misery over one's sinfulness ; a state
of complete submissiveness, expressing itself in
those days of intense belief both in heaven and
in a most realistic hell, as complete willing-
ness " to be saved or damned," a whichever the
Lord in his great wisdom saw would fit best
into His eternal scheme. Finally, there was the

a This "to be saved or damned" was, later, a marked
characteristic of Hopkinsianism, or the teaching- of the Rev.
/Suinuul Hopkins, 1723-1813.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 231

blessed state of ecstatic happiness, when it was
borne in upon one that he or she was, indeed,
one of the few of " God's elect." 10° The revival
meetings were marked by shouting, sobbing,
sometimes by fainting, or by bodily contortions.
All these, in the fever of excitement, were be-
lieved by many persons to be special marks of
supernatural power, and, if they followed the
words of some ignorant and rash exhorter, they
were even more likely to be considered tokens
of divine favor, — illustrations of God's choice of
the simple and lowly to confound the wisdom
of the world. The strong emotional character of
the religious meetings of our southern negroes,
as well as their frequent sentimental rather than
practical or moral expression of religion, has
been credited in large measure to the hold over
them which this great religious revival of the
eighteenth century gained, when its enthusiasm
rolled over the southern colonies. Be that as it
may, any adequate appreciation of the frequent
daily occurrences in New England during the
Great Awakening would be best realized by one
of this twentieth century were it possible to form
a composite picture, having the unbridled emo-
tionalism of our negro camp-meetings super-
imposed upon the solid respectability and grave
reasonableness of the men of that earlier day.

232 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT

As the lines of one and the other constituent
of this composite picture blend, the momentary
feeling of impatience and disgust vanishes in a
wave of compassion as the irresistible earnest-
ness and the pitiless logic of those days press
for recognition, and we realize the awful suffer-
ings of many an ignorant or sensitive soul. It
was not until the religious revival had passed its
height that the people began to realize the folly
and dangers of the hysteria that had accom-
panied it. It was not until long afterward that
many of its characteristics, which had been in-
terpreted as supernatural signs, were known and
understood, and correctly diagnosticated as out-
ward evidence of physical and nervous exhaus-
tion.

Such, outwardly, were the marked features of
the Great Awakening. Yet its incentives to noble
living were great and lasting. Its immediate re-
sults were a revolt against conventional religion,
a division into ecclesiastical parties, and a great
schism within the Establishment, which, before
the breach was healed, had improved the quality
of religion in every meeting-house and chapel
in the land and broadened the conception of re-
ligious liberty throughout the colony.

CHAPTER X

THE GKEAT SCHISM
If a house be divided against itself. — Mark iii, 25.

Fkom such a revival as that of the Great Awaken-
ing, parties must of necessity arise. Upon un-
disciplined fanaticism, the Established church
must frown. But when it undertook to discipline
large numbers of church members or whole
churches, recognizedly within its embracing fold
and within their lawful privileges, a great schism
resulted, and the schismatics were sufficiently
tenacious of their rights to come out victorious
in their long contest for toleration.

The proviso of the Saybrook Platform had
arranged for the continued existence of churches,
Congregational rather than Presbyterian in their
interpretation of that platform ; yet, as late as
1730, when but few remained, the question had
arisen whether members of such churches, " since
they were allowed and under the protection of
the laws," ought to qualify according to the Tol-
eration Act. The Court decided in the negative,101
arguing that, although they differed from the

234 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

majority of the churches in preferring the Cam-
bridge Platform of church discipline, they had
been permitted under the colony law of May 13,
1669, establishing the Congregational church,
and had been protected by the proviso of 1708.
The Court in its decision of 1730 seems also to
have included a very few churches that had re-
volted from the religious formalism creeping in
under the Saybrook system, and that had re-
turned to the earlier type of Congregationalism.
After the Great Awakening, churches "thus
allowed and under the protection of our laws "
were found to increase so rapidly that the move-
ment away from the Saybrook Platform threat-
ened to undermine the ecclesiastical system, and
to endanger the Establishment. Seeing this, the
Court, or General Assembly,0 began to enforce
the old colony law that with it alone belonged
the power to approve the incorporating of
churches. And shortly after it began to harass
these separating churches, and to enact laws to
prevent the farther spread of reinvigorated Con-
gregationalism unless of the Presbyterian type.
Soon after 1741, the churches that drew away
from the Saybrook system of government became
known as Separate churches, and their members

« This term came with the royal charter of 1G62, but only
gradually displaced the familiar " General Court."

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 235

as Separatists. When these people found that
the Assembly would no longer approve their
organizing as churches, they attempted, as sober
dissenters from the worship established in the
colony, to take the benefit of the Toleration Act.
The Assembly next "resolved that those com-
monly called Presbyterians or Congregationalists
should not take the benefit of that Act." 102

Here was a difficulty indeed. There was no
place for the Separatist, yet there was need of
him, and he felt sure there was. Furthermore,
there were others who felt the need to the com-
munity of his strong religious earnestness, though
they might deplore his extravagances. His strong
points were his assertion of the need of regen-
eration, his reassertion of the old doctrines of
justification by faith and of a personal sense
of conversion, including, as a duty inseparable
from church membership, the living of a highly
moral life. The weakness of the Separatist lay in
his assertion, first, that every man had an equal
right to exercise any gifts of preaching or prayer
of which he believed himself possessed ; secondly,
of the value of visions and trances as proofs of
spirituality ; and finally, of every one's freedom
to withdraw from the ministry of any pastor who
did not come up to his standard of ability or
helpfulness. It followed that the Separatists in-

236 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

sisted upon the right to set up their own churches
and to appoint their own ministers, although the
latter might have only the doubtful qualifica-
tion of feeling possessed with the gift of preach-
ing. The Separatists organized between thirty
and forty churches. Some of them endured but
a short time, suffering disintegration through
poverty. Others fell to pieces because of the
unrestrained liberty of their members in their
exhortations, in their personal interpretation of
the Scriptures, and in their exercise of the right
of private judgment, with the consequent har-
vest of confusion, censoriousness, and discord
that such practices created. In years later,
many of the Separate churches, tired of the
struggle for recognition and weighed down by
their double taxation for the support of religion,
buried themselves under the Baptist name. In-
deed they " agreed upon all points of doctrine,
worship, and discipline, save the mode and sub-
ject of baptism." A few Separatist churches, a
dozen or more, continued the struggle for exist-
ence until victory and toleration rewarded them.
After the teachings of Jonathan Edwards had
purified the churches and had driven out the
Half- Way Covenant, against which the Separa-
tists uttered their loudest protests, many of these
reformers returned to the Established church.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 237

In the practice of their principles, the Sepa-
ratists, both as churches and as individuals, were
often headstrong, officious, intermeddling, and
censorious. They frequently stirred up ill-feeling
and often just indignation. The rash and heed-
less among them accused the conservative and
regular clergy of Arminianism, when the latter,
influenced by the Great Awakening, revived the
doctrines of original sin, regeneration, and justi-
fication by faith, but were careful to add to these
Calvinistic dogmas admonitions to such practi-
cal Christianity as was taught by Arminian
preachers. The Separatists feared lest the doc-
trine of works would cause men to stray too far
from the doctrine of justification by faith alone,
and they were often very intemperate in their
denunciation of such " false teachers." It was a
day of freer speech than now, and at least two
of the great leaders in the revival had set a
very bad example of calling names. Mr. White-
field considered Mr. Tennant a " mighty chari-
table man," yet here are a few of the latter's
descriptive epithets, collected from one of his
sermons and published by the Synod of Phila-
delphia. Dr. Chauncey of Boston quotes them in
an adverse criticism of the revival movement.
Mr. Tennant speaks of the ministers thus : —
hirelings, caterpillars, letter-learned Pharisees, Hypo-

238 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

crites, Varlets, Seed of the Serpent, foolish Builders
whom the Devil drives into the ministry, dead dogs
that cannot bark, blind men, dead men, men pos-
sessed of the devil, rebels and enemies of God.103

Naturally, party lines were soon drawn in
New England. There were the Old Calvinists
or Old Lights on the one side, and the Separa-
tists and New Lights on the other. The New
Lights were those within the churches who
were moved by the revival and who desired to
return to a more vital Christianity. In many re-
spects they sympathized with the Separatists,
although disapproving their extravagances. In
many churches, hounded by the opposition of
the conservatives, the New Lights drew off and
formed churches of their own. Thus while the
Separatists may be compared to the early Eng-
lish Separatists, the New Lights would corre-
spond more to the Puritan party that desired
reform within the Establishment. In the eight-
eenth century movement, in Connecticut, the
Old Lights held the political as well as the eccle-
siastical control until, in the process of time,
the New Lights gained an influential vote in the
Assembly. Always, there was a good, sound
stratum of Calvinism in both the Old and the
New Light parties, and also among the Separa-
tists, and the latter were generally included in

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 239

the New Light party, especially if spoken of
from the point of view of political affiliations.
The idiosyncrasies of the Separatists softened
down and fell away in time. The Calvinism of
Old and New Lights became a rallying ground
whereon each, in after years, gathered about the
standard of a reinvigorated church life ; and
then the terms Old Light and New, with their
suggestions of party meaning, whether religious
or political, passed away. The term Separatist
was retained for a while longer, merely to distin-
guish the churches that preferred to be known
as strict Congregationalist rather than as Pres-
byterianized Congregationalist, or, for short,
Presbyterian.

From the time of the Great Awakening, there
were nearly forty years of party contest over
religious privileges, many of which had been
previously accorded but which were speedily de-
nied to the Separatists by a party dominant in
the churches and paramount in the legislature ;
by a party which was determined to bring the
whole machinery of Church and State to crush
the rising opposition to its control. Accordingly,
it was nearly forty years before the Separatists
received the same measure of toleration as that
accorded to Episcopalian, Quaker, and Baptist^/
It was ten years before the New Lights in the

240 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Assembly could, as a preliminary step to such
toleration, force the omission from the revised
statutes of all persecuting laws passed by the
Old Light party.

The keynote to the long struggle was sounded
at a meeting of the General Consociation at
Guilford, November 24, 1741. This was the
first and only General Consociation ever called.
It was convened at the expense of the colony, to
consider her religious condition and the dangers
threatening her from the excitement of the Great
Awakening, from unrestrained converts, from
rash exhorters, and from itinerant preachers,
who took possession of the ministers' pulpits
with little deference to their proper occupants.
The General Consociation decided —

that for a minister to enter another minister's parish,
and preach or administer the seals of the Covenant,
without the consent of, or in opposition to the set-
tled minister of the parish, is disorderly, notwith-
standing if a considerable number of the people in
the parish are desirous to hear another minister
preach, provided the same be orthodox, and sound in
the faith and not notoriously faulty in censuring other
persons, or guilty of any scandal, we think it ordina-
rily advisable for the minister of the parish to gratify
them by giving his consent upon their suitable appli-
cation to him for it, unless neighboring ministers
advise him to the contrary. 104

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 241

This was not necessarily an intolerant attitude,
but it was hostile rather than friendly to the re-
vival. It left neighboring ministers, that is, the
Associations, if one among their number seemed
to be too free in lending his pulpit to itinerant
preachers, to curb his friendliness. Intolerance
might come through this limitation, for the local
Association might be prejudiced. If its advice
were disregarded and disorders arose, the Con-
sociation of the county could step in to settle
difficulties and to condemn progressive men as
well as fanatics. In its phrasing, this ecclesias-
tical legislation left room for the ministrations
of reputable itinerants, for among many, some
of whom were ignorant and self-called to their
vocation, there were others whose abilities were
widely recognized. Foremost among such men
in Connecticut were Jonathan Edwards himself,
Dr. Joseph Bellamy of Bethlem, trainer of many
students in theology, Rev. Eleazer Whelock of
Lebanon, Benjamin Pomroy of Hebron, and
Jonathan Parsons of Lyme. Among itinerants
coming from other colonies, the most noted, after
Whitefield and Tennant, was Dr. Samuel Finley
of New Jersey, later president of Princeton.
Naturally men like these, who felt strongly the
need of a revival and believed in supporting the
" Great Awakening," despite its excitement and

242 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

errors, did not countenance the rash proceedings
of many of the ignorant preachers, who ran
about the colony seeking audiences for them-
selves.

The measures of the General Consociation were
mild in comparison with the laws passed by the
legislature in the following May. Governor Tal-
cott, tolerant toward all religious dissenters, had
recently died, and the conservative Jonathan Law
of Milford was in the chair of the chief magis-
trate. Governor Law had grown up among the
traditions of that narrow ecclesiasticism which
had always marked the territory of the old New
Haven Colony. Moreover, the measures of the
Consociation had been futile. One of the chief
offenders against them was the Rev. James
Davenport of Southold, Long Island, who not
only went preaching through the colony, stirring
up by his fanaticism, his visions, and his ecstasies,
the common people, and finding fault with the
regular clergy as " unconverted men," but who
pushed his religious enthusiasm to great extremes
by everywhere urging upon excitable young men
the duty to become preachers like himself. He
had introduced a kind of intoning at public
meetings. This tended to create nervous irri-
tability and hysterical outbursts of religious
emotionalism, and these, Davenport taught his

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 243

disciples, were the signs of God's approval of
them and their devotion to Him. The govern-
ment, watching these tumultuous meetings, con-
cluded that it was time to show its ancient
authority and to save the people from " divisions
and contentions," the ecclesiastical constitution
from destruction, and the ministry from " un-
qualified persons entering therein." Accordingly,
in May, 1742, the Assembly passed a series of
laws,105 so severe that even ordained ministers
were forbidden to preach outside their own par-
ishes without an express invitation and under
the penalty of forfeiting all benefits and all sup-
port derived from any laws for the encouragement
of religion ever made in the colony. The new
enactments also forbade any Association to license
a candidate to preach outside its own bounds
or to settle any disputes beyond its own terri-
tory.106 These laws also permitted any parish
minister to lodge with the society clerk a certifi-
cate charging that a man had entered his parish
and had preached there without first obtaining
permission. Furthermore, there was no provision
for confirming the truth or proving the falsity of
such a statement. In connection with the certif-
icate clause, it was also enacted that no assist-
ant, or justice of the peace, should sign a warrant
for collecting a minister's rates until he was sure

244 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

that nowhere in the colony was there such a cer-
tificate lodged against the minister making appli-
cation for this mode of collecting his ministerial
dues.107 Finally, the laws provided that a bond
of XI 00 should be demanded of a stranger, or
visiting minister, who had preached without invi-
tation, and that he should be treated as a vagrant,
and sent by warrant "from constable to con-
stable, out of the bounds of this Colony." 108

These laws restrained both ordained Ministers
and licensed candidates from preaching in other
Men's Parishes without their and the Church's con-
sent and wholly prohibited the Exhortations of Illit-
erate Laymen.

These laws were a high-handed infringement of
the rights of conscience, and in a few years fell and
buried with them the party that had enacted them.
These were the laws which he (Davenport) exhorted
his hearers to set at defiance ; and seldom, it must be
acknowledged, has a more plausible occasion been
found in New England to preach disregard for the
law.

The laws were framed to repress itinerants and
exhorters through loss of their civil rights. By
them, a man's good name was dishonored and he
was deprived of all his temporal emoluments. By
many, in their own day, the laws were regarded
as contrary to scriptural commands, and to the

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 245

opinion and practice of all reformers and of all
Puritans. These laws, with others that followed,
were not warranted by the ecclesiastical constitu-
tion of the colony, and could find no parallel
either in England or in her other colonies. Trum-
bull calls them —

a concerted plan of the Old Lights or Arminians both
among the clergy and civilians, to suppress as far as
possible, all zealous Calvinistic preachers, to confine
them entirely to their own pulpits ; and at the same
time to put all the public odium and reproach upon
them as wicked, disorderly men, unfit to enjoy the
common rights of citizens. 109

Yet for these laws the Association of New
Haven sent a vote of thanks to the Assembly
when it convened in their city in the following
fall.

Jonathan Edwards opposed both the spirit of
the General Consociation and also the legislation
of the Assembly. He expressed his attitude
toward the Great Awakening both at the time
and later. In 1742 he wrote : —

If ministers preached never so good a doctrine,
and are never so laborious in their work, yet if at
such a day as this they show their people that they
are not well affected to this work [of revival], they
will be very likely to do their people a great deal
more hurt than good.

246 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Six years later Edwards wrote a preface to his
" An Humble Inquiry into the Qualifications for
Full Communion in the Visible Church of God,"
a treatise severely condemning the Half- Way
Covenant, and urging the revival of the early per-
sonal account of conversion. In this preface he
excuses his hesitation in publishing the work,
on the ground that he feared the Separatists
would seize upon his arguments to encourage
them and strengthen them in many of their rejDre-
hensible practices. These, Edwards reminds his
reader, he had severely condemned in his earlier
publications, notably in his " Treatise on Reli-
gious Affections," 1746, and in his " Observa-
tions and Reflections on Mr. Brainerd's Life."
In his preface Edwards repeats his disapproval
of the Separatist " notion of a pure church by
means of a spirit of discerning ; their censorious
outcries against the standing ministers and
churches in general, their lay ordinations, their
lay-preaching and public exhortings and admin-
istering sacraments ; and their self-complacent,
presumptuous spirit." Edwards believed that
enthusiasts, though unlettered, might exhort in
private, and even in public religious gatherings
might be encouraged to relate in a proper, ear-
nest, and modest manner their religious experi-
ences, and might also entreat others to become

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 247

converted. He maintained that much of the
criticism of an inert ministry was well founded,
that much of the enthusiastic work of laymen
and of the itinerants deserved to be recognized
by the regular clergy, and that they ought to
bestir themselves in furthering such enthusiasm
among their own people. Edwards urged also
his belief in the value of good works, not as mer-
iting the reward of future salvation, but as mani-
festing a heart stirred by a proper appreciation
of God's attributes. Jonathan Edwards held
firmly to the foundation principles of the conser-
vative school, while he sympathized with and sup-
ported the best elements in the revival movement.
This attitude of Edwards eventually cost him
his pastorate, for he judged it best to resign
from the Northampton church, in 1750, because
of the unpopularity arising from his repeated
attacks upon the Half- Way Covenant and the
Stoddardean view of the Lord's supper. Never-
theless, it was the influence of Jonathan Ed-
wards and of his following which gradually
brought about a union of the religious parties,
after the Separatists had given up their eccen-
tricities and the leaven of Edwards' teachings
had brought a new and invigorated life into the
Connecticut churches. This preacher, teacher,
and evangelist was remarkable for his powerful

248 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

logic, his deep and tender feeling, his sincere
and vivid faith. These characteristics urged on
his resistless imagination, when picturing to
his people their imminent danger and the awful
punishment in store for those who continued at
enmity with God. Of his work as a theologian,
we shall have occasion to speak elsewhere.

Some illustrations of church life in the trou-
blous years following the Great Awakening will
best set forth the confusion arising, the difficul-
ties between Old and New Lights, and the hard-
ships of the Separatists. Among the colony
churches, the trials of three may be taken as
typical, — the New Haven n0 church, the Can-
terbury church,111 and the church of Enfield.112
Nor can the story of the first two be told with-
out including in it an account of later acts of
the Assembly and of the attitude of the College
during the years of the great schism.

The pastor of the New Haven church was
Mr. Noyes, whom many of his parishioners
thought too noncommittal, erroneous, or pointless
in discussing the themes which the itinerant
preachers loved to dwell upon. Moreover, Mr.
Noyes had refused to allow the Rev. George White-
field to preach from his pulpit while on his mem-
orable pilgrimage through New England. Mr.
Noyes had also forbidden the hot-headed James

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 249

Davenport to occupy it. As a result of their min-
ister's actions, the New Haven church was divided
in their estimate of their pastor. There were
the friendly Old Lights and the hostile New.
Neither party wished to carry their trouble be-
fore the Consociation of New Haven county, for
that had come at last to be a tribunal " whose
decision was at that time considered judicial and
final" Moreover, at the meeting of the Gen-
eral Consociation at Guilford in November, 1741,
it was known that Mr. Noyes had been a most
active worker in favor of suppressing the New
Light movement. Consequently the New Lights,
though at the time in the minority, sought to
find a way out from under the jurisdiction of
the Saybrook Platform and its councils by de-
claring that the church had never formally been
made a Consociated church. This was literally
true, but the weight of precedent and their own
observances were against them. Like other
churches in the county, which had come slowly
to the acceptance of the Saybrook councils as
ecclesiastical courts, it had finally accepted them
in their most authoritative character. Such being
the case, the New Lights hesitated to appeal
against their minister before a court presumably
favorable to him. After the New Lights had de-
clared the church not under the Saybrook system,

250 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Mr. Noyes determined to take the vote of his
people as to whether they considered themselves
a Consociated church. But as he was a little
fearful of the result of the vote, he secured the
victory for his own faction by excluding the New
Lights from voting. Thereupon, the New Lights
took the benefit of the Toleration Act as " sober
dissenters," and became a Separate church. The
committee, appointed for the organization of the
new church, declared that " they were reestab-
lished as the original church." The benefit of
the Toleration Act accorded to these New Light
dissenters in New Haven, to some in Milf ord,a and
to several other reinvigorated churches in the
southern part of the colony, roused the opposition
of the Old Lights in the Assembly, and, as they
counted a majority, they repealed the act in the
following year, 1743. Three or four weeks after
the New Haven New Lights had formed what
was afterwards known as the North Church, the
General Assembly met for its fall session in that
city, and, as has been said, the New Haven
Association immediately sent a vote of thanks
for the stringent laws passed at the May meet-
ing. The Court, moved by this indication of the
popular feeling, by the importance of the church

° The Milford church, like that of New Haven, suffered for
many years from unjust exactions and taxation.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 251

schism and its influence throughout the colony,
by the conservative attitude of Yale College, and
also by having among its delegates large num-
bers of Old Lights, proceeded to enact yet more
stringent measures than those of the preceding
session. The result was that the North Church
could hire no preacher until they could find one
acceptable to the First Church and Society, be-
cause the pastor elected by the First Church
was the only lawfully appointed minister, since
he owed his election to the majority votes of the
First Society. Furthermore, the Court, in 1743,
refused a special application of the North Church
for permission to settle their chosen minister,
and it was some five or six years before it ceased
this particular kind of persecution and permitted
the church to have a regular pastor.

The story of this New Haven church extends
beyond the time-limit of this chapter, but it is
better completed here. The stringency of the
laws only increased the bitterness of faction. In
1745, feeling ran so high that a father refused
to attend his son's funeral merely because they
belonged to opposing factions, and an attempt to
build a house of worship for this Separate church
resulted in serious disturbances and in the charge
of incendiarism. The New Lights preferred im-
prisonment to the payment of taxes assessed

252 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

for the benefit of the First Church. At last,
in 1751, the October session of the General
Assembly thought it best " for the good of the
colony and for the peace and harmony of this
and other churches" infected by its example, to
advise that the differences within it be healed by
a council to be composed of both Old and New
Lights.113 The suggestion bore no fruit, and a
year later the New Lights themselves again asked
for a council, even offering to apologize to the
First Church for their informality in separating
from it, and for their part in the heated contro-
versy that followed ; but Mr. Noyes induced his
party to refuse to accede to the proposed con-
ference. As the North Church had grown strong
enough by this time to support a regular pastor,
Mr. Bird accepted its call ; yet for six years
longer, because the Assembly refused to divide
the society, the New Lights were held to be mem-
bers of the First Society and taxable for its sup-
port. But in 1757, the New Lights gained the
majority both in church and society, a majority of
one. At once, the New Lights were released from
taxes to the First Church. Now the dominant
party, they attempted to pay back old scores,
and accordingly demanded a division of both
church and society property. The claim to the
first was unfair, and they eventually abandoned it.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 253

The church quarrel finally ceased in 1759, after
a duration of eighteen years, and in 1760 Mr.
Bird was formally installed with fitting honors.

In the early days of the Great Awakening,
the Canterbury church became divided into Old
Lights and New, and a separation took place.
Before the separation, a committee, who were ap-
pointed to look up the church records, gave it as
their opinion that the church was not and never
had been pledged to the Saybrook Platform.
Nevertheless, the very men who gave this decision
became the leaders of the minority, who deter-
mined to support the government in carrying
out its oppressive laws of 1742. These laws had
been passed while the committee were searching
the church records. The majority of the church,
incensed at having their liberty curtailed, pro-
ceeded to defy the law by listening to lay ex-
horters and to itinerants just as they had been
in the habit of doing ever since the church
had felt the quickening influences of the Great
Awakening. This majority declared that it was
" regular for this church to admit persons into
this church that are in full communion with
other churches and come regularly to this." This
decision the minority characterized as unlawful
according to the recent acts of the Assembly.
The majority proceeded to argue the right of the

254 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

majority in the church as above the right of
the majority in the society, or parish, to elect the
minister and to guide the church. In an attempt
to satisfy both parties, candidates were tried, but
they could not command a sufficient number of
votes from either side to be located permanently.
A meeting in 1743 of the Consociation of Wind-
ham (to whose jurisdiction the Canterbury church
belonged), together with a council of New
Lights, brought temporary peace.114 A candi-
date was agreed upon ; but in a few months the
New Lights became dissatisfied with him because
of his approval of the Saybrook system of church
government, his acceptance of the Half- Way
Covenant, and other opinions. Controversy re-
vived. The majority of the church withdrew,
and for a while met in a private house for ser-
vices, which were conducted by Solomon Paine
or by some other layman. As a result, the Wind-
ham Association passed a vote of censure against
the seceders. Paine wrote a sharp retort, for
which he was arrested, although ostensibly on the
charge of unlawfully conducting public worship.
He refused to give bonds and was committed to
Windham jail in September, 1744. Such crowds
flocked to the prison yard to hear him preach,
and excitement ran so high, that the officer
who had conducted his trial appeared before the

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 255

Assembly to protest that such legal proceed-
ings did but tend to increase the disorders they
were intended to cure. Accordingly, Paine was
released in October.

The interest of the whole colony was now
centred on the defiant and determined Canter-
bury Separate church, and the November meet-
ing of the Windham Association had the schism
under consideration, when Yale expelled two Can-
terbury students whose parents were members
of that church.

In October, 1742, in order to protect the col-
lege and the ministry and to deal a blow at the
" Shepherd's Tent," a kind of school or academy
which the New Lights had set up in New Lon-
don for qualifying young men as exhorters,
teachers, and ministers, the General Assembly
had decided that no persons should presume to
set up any college, seminary of learning, or any
public school whatever, without special leave of
the legislature.115 The Court had also enacted
that no one should take the benefit of the laws
respecting the settlement and support of ministers
unless he were a graduate of Yale or Harvard, or
some other approved Protestant university. It
had also given explicit directions for the super-
vision of the schools throughout the colony and
of their masters' orthodoxy,116 and had advised

256 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Yale to take especial care that her students
should not be contaminated by the New Lights.
The Congregationalists had reported the " Shep-
herd's Tent" as a noisy, tumultuous resort, because
it was occasionally used for meetings, and had
added that it was openly taught in that school
that there would soon be a change in the gov-
ernment, and that disobedience to the civil laws
was not wrong. The Assembly, fearing that it
might " train up youth in ill practices and prin-
ciples," sought to put an end to it. As to the
advice to the college, Yale was only too eager to
follow it, and the same year expelled the saintly
David Brainerd 117 for criticising the prayers of
the college preachers as lacking in fervor. His
offense was against a college law of the preced-
ing year which forbade students to call their
officers " hypocritical, carnal or unconverted
men." The college, as the New Light move-
ment increased, came to the further conclusion
that —

since the principal design of erecting this college was
to train up a succession of learned and orthodox
ministers by whose example people might be directed
in the ways of religion and good order ... it
would be a contradiction to the civil government to
support a college to educate students to trample upon
their own laws, to break up the churches which they

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 257

establish and protect, especially since the General
Assembly in May 1742, thought proper to give the
governors of the college some special advice and di-
rection upon that account, which was to the effect
that proper care should be taken to prevent the schol-
ars from imbibing those or like errors ; and those
who would not be orderly and submissive, should not
be allowed the privileges of the college.

Solomon Paine made answer to this law. With
fine irony, he assured the people that in effect
it forbade all students attending Yale College
to go to any religious meeting even with their
parents, should they be Separatists or New
Lights, because —

no scholar upon the Lord's day or other day, under
pretence of religion, shall go to any public or private
meeting, not established or allowed by public author-
ity or approved by the President, under penalty of a
fine, confession, admonition or otherwise, according
to the state and demerit of the offence, for fear that
such preaching would end in " Quakerism," open in-
fidelity, and the destruction of all Christian religion,
and make endless divisions in the Christian church
till nothing but the name of it would be left in the
world.118

The two Cleveland brothers, John and Eben-
ezer, had spent the fall vacation of 1744 a with
their parents at their home in Canterbury, and

a Commencement then came in September.

258 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

by request of their elders had frequented the
Separatist church there. On their return to Yale,
the boys were admonished. They professed them-
selves ready to apologize, but not in such words
as the authorities thought sufficiently submissive,
for the latter considered that the boys had broken
the laws " of God, of the Colony and of the
College." 119 The boys very ably argued that,
under the circumstances, there had been nothing
else for them to do but to go to church with
their parents when requested to do so, and held
to their position. Yale expelled them, and there
followed a sensation throughout the colony.120

The leaders of the New Light party in the
church of Canterbury were the nearest relatives
and friends of the Cleveland boys, who came to
be regarded as martyrs to their religion. Their
treatment opened the question as to whether the
steadily increasing numbers of New Lights were
to lose for their children the benefit of the col-
lege, that they helped to support. Must they, in
order to send their sons to college, deprive them
for four years of a " Gospel ministry " and lay
them open to consequent grave perils? Why
should New Lights be required to make such a
sacrifice, or why, in vacation, should their children
be required to submit to the ecclesiastical laws
of the college ? If Episcopalians were permitted

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 259

to have their sons, students at Yale, worship
with them during the vacations, why should not
the same liberty be granted to equally good
citizens who differed even less in theological
opinions ?

Because of this college incident the difficulties
in the Canterbury church attracted still more
attention, but the end of the schism was at hand.
In the month that witnessed the expulsion of the
Clevelands, the minority of the original First
Church voted that they were " The Church of
Canterbury," and that those who had gone forth
from among them in the January of the preced-
ing year, 1743, as Congregationalists after the
Cambridge Platform, had abrogated that of Say-
brook. Consequently, to the minority lawfully
belonged the election of the minister, the meeting
house, and the taxes for ministerial support.
Having thus fortified their position, they by a
later vote declared : —

That those in the society who are differently minded
from us, and can't conscientiously join in ye settle-
ment of Mr. James Coggeshall as our minister may
have free liberty to enjoy their own opinion, and we
are willing they should be released and discharged
from paying anything to ye support of Mr. Cogges-
hall, or living under his ministry any longer than
until they have parish privileges granted them and

260 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

are settled in church by themselves according to ye
order of ye Gospel, or are lawfully released.121

At the repeal of the Toleration Act in 1743, a
new method had been prescribed for sober dis-
senters who wished to separate from the state
church, and who were not of the recognized sects.
The method of relief, thereafter, was for the
dissenters, no matter how widely scattered in
the colony, to appeal in person to the General
Assembly and ask for special exemption. More-
over, they were promised only that their requests
would be listened to, and the Assembly was grow-
ing steadily more and more averse to granting
such petitions. As a result of this policy, the
Separatist church of Canterbury did not have a
very good prospect of immediate ability to accept
the good-will of the First Church, which went
even farther than the resolution cited above. The
First Church offered to assist the Separatists in
obtaining recognition from the Assembly. This
offer the Separatists refused, preferring to sub-
mit to double taxation, and thus to become a
standing protest to the injustice of the laws.

After the expulsion of the Clevelands, Yale
made one more pronounced effort to discipline
its students and to repress the growth of the lib-
eral spirit. She attempted to suppress a reprint
of Locke's essay upon " Toleration " which the

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 261

senior class had secretly printed at their expense.
An attempt to overawe the students and to make
them confess on pain of expulsion was met by
the spirited resistance of one of the class, who
threatened to appeal to the King in Council if
his diploma were denied him. His diploma was
granted ; and some years after, when the senti-
ment in the colony had further changed, the col-
lege gave the Cleveland brothers their degree.

The church in Enfield122 had an experience
somewhat similar to that of Canterbury, to which
it seems to have looked for spiritual advice and
example. The Enfield Separate church was prob-
ably organized between 1745 and 1751, though its
first known documents are a series of letters to
the Separate church in Canterbury covering the
period 1751-53. These letters sought advice
in adjusting difficulties that were creating great
discord in the church, which had already separated
from the original church of Enfield. In 1762,
the Enfield Separatists, once more in harmony,
renewed their covenant, and called Mr. Nathaniel
Collins to be their pastor. They struggled for
existence until 1769, when they appealed to the
General Assembly for exemption from the rates
still levied upon them for the benefit of the First
Society. They asked for recognition, separation,
and incorporation as the Second Society and

262 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Church of Enfield. They were refused ; but in
May of the following year, — a year to be marked
by special legislation in behalf of dissenters, —
the Enfield Separatists again memorialized the
Assembly, and in response were permitted to
organize their own church.123 This permission,
however, was limited to the memorialists, eighty
in number; to their children, if within six
months after reaching their majority they filed
certificates of membership in this Separate church;
and to strangers, who should enter the new so-
ciety within one year of their settling in the town.
The history of the Enfield Separatists gives
glimpses of the frequent double discord between
the New Lights and the Old and among the New
Lights themselves. The period of the Enfield
persecution extended over years when, elsewhere
in the colony, Separatists had obtained recogni-
tion of their claims to toleration, if only through
special acts and not by general legislation.

If churches suffered from the severe ecclesias-
tical laws of 1742-43, individuals did also.
Under the law which considered traveling min-
isters as vagrants, and which the Assembly had
made still more stringent by the additional pen-
alty " to pay down the cost of transportation," so
learned a man as the Rev. Samuel Finley, after-
wards president of Princeton, was imprisoned

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 263

and driven from the colony because he insisted
upon preaching in Connecticut. Indeed, it was
his persistence in returning to the colony that
caused the magistrates to increase the severity
of the law.12* When the ministers John Owen
of Groton and Benjamin Pomeroy of Hebron, as
well as the itinerant James Davenport of South-
old, criticised the laws, all of them were at once
arraigned for the offense before the Assembly.
There was so much excitement over the arrest of
Pomeroy and Davenport that it threatened a
riot. All three men were discharged, but Daven-
port was ordered out of the colony for his itinerant
preaching and for teaching resistance to the civil
laws. Pomeroy, his friend, had declared that the
laws forbade any faithful minister, or any one
faithful in civil authority, to hold office. Events
bore out his statement, for ministers were
hounded, and the New Light justices of the peace,
and other magistrates, were deprived of office.
Pomeroy, himself, was discharged only to be com-
plained of for irregular preaching at Colchester
and in punishment to be deprived of his salary
for seven years.125 The Rev. Nathan Stone of
Stonington was disciplined for his New Light
sympathies. Philemon Robbins of Branford was
deposed for preaching to the Baptists at Walling-
ford. This last procedure was the work of the

2C4 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Consociation of New Haven county, which thereby
began a six years' contest, 1741-47, with the
Branford church. In 1745 this church attempted
to throw off the yoke of the Consociation by
renouncing the Saybrook Platform.

During these years of persecution, the opposi-
tion to the Old Light policy was gradually gain-
ing effective power, although the college had
expelled Brainerd, and Mr. Cook, one of the Yale
corporation, had found it expedient to resign be-
cause of his too prominent part in the formation
of the North Church of New Haven. The Old
Lights in the legislature of 1743 passed the
repeal of the Toleration Act because the New
Lights had no commanding vote ; but they were
increasing throughout the colony. Fairfield East
Consociation had licensed Brainerd the year that
Yale expelled him. Twelve ministers of New
London and Windham county had met to approve
the revival, notwithstanding the repeal of the
Toleration Act and the known antagonism of
the Windham Association to the Separatists.
Windham Consociation and that of Fairfield
East favored the revival. Large numbers of
converts were made in these districts, and many
also in Hartford county. In the New Haven dis-
trict the spirit of antagonism and of persecution
was strongest.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 265

It was in accordance with the laws of 1742-43
that Mack, Shaw, and Pyrlaeus, Moravian
missionaries, on a visit in 1744 to their mission
stations among the Indians in Connecticut, were
seized as Papists and hustled from sheriff to
sheriff for three days until "the Governor of
Connecticut honorably dismissed them," though
their accusers insisted upon their being bound
over under a penalty of £1 00 to keep the law.
" Being not fully acquainted with all the special
laws of the country, they perceived a trap laid
for them and thought it prudent to retire to
Shekomeko" (Pine Plains, Dutchess County,
N. Y.). Missionaries sent out from Nazareth and
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, had established this
sub-centre for work in New York and Connecti-
cut, and in the latter colony, in 1740-43, had
made Indian converts at Sharon, Salisbury In-
dian Pond, near Newtown, and at Pachgatgoch,
two miles southwest of Kent. Here was their
principal station in Connecticut. They had made,
in all, some twenty converts among the Indians,
and had reclaimed several of their chief men from
drunkenness and idleness. Moravian principles
forbade these missionaries to take an oath. Con-
sequently, the greed of traders, the rivalry of
creeds, together with the belief that there was
something wrong about men who would not swear

26G THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

allegiance to King George, — notwithstanding
their willingness to affirm it, and notwithstanding
their denial of the Pretender, — gave rise to the
conviction that they must be Papists0 in league
with the French and their Indian allies. Accord-
ingly both magistrates and ministers arrested the
missionaries, and hurried them before the court
at Poughkeepsie or at New Milford. Though the
governors of both states recognized the value of
the mission work, popular feeling ran so high
that New York, in September, 1744, passed a
law requiring them to take the oaths prescribed or
to leave the country, and also commanding that
"vagrant Teachers, Moravians, and disguised
Papists should not preach or teach in public or
private" without first obtaining a license. In
Connecticut, as has been said, the laws of 1742-
1743 were enforced against them; later, when
during the Old French War groundless rumors
of their intrigues with hostile Indians were circu-
lated against them, a vain hunt was made for
three thousand stands of arms that were said to
be secreted in their missions. The severe per-
secution in New York had driven these mission-
aries into Pennsylvania and into Connecticut, but

a And this notwithstanding- their willingness to include in
their affirmation a denial of Mariolatry, purgatory, and other
Tital Romish tenets.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 267

these rumors of intrigue broke up their work
and caused the abandonment of their stations in
the latter colony. Some of these, such as Kent,
Sharon, and Salisbury, were revived in 1749-
1762, at the request of the English settlers as
well as of the Indian converts.126

Returning to the main story of the progress
of dissent, we find that in 1746 the General
Court of Connecticut felt obliged to safeguard
the Establishment by the passage of a law en-
titled, " Concerning who shall vote in Society
Meetings." 127 Its preamble states that persons
exempted from taxes for the support of the estab-
lished ministry, because of their dissenting from
the way of worship and ministry of the Presby-
terian, Congregational, or Consociated churches,
" ought not to vote in society meetings with re-
spect to the support or to the building and main-
taining of meeting houses," yet some persons,
exempted as aforesaid, " have adventured to vote
and act therein," as there was no express law to
the contrary. The new law forbade such voting,
and limited the ecclesiastical ballot to members
of the Establishment who " were persons of full
age and in full communion with the church," and
to other unexempted persons who held a freehold
rated at fifty shillings per year, or personal pro-
perty to the value of forty pounds. This law was

268 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

just, in that it excluded all dissenters who had
received exemption from Presbyterian rates. It
included all others having the property qualifi-
cation, whether they wanted to vote or not. That
it was felt to be a necessity is a witness to the
increasing recognition of the strength of the dis-
senting element.

In 1747, the Consociation of Windham sent
forth a violent pamphlet describing the Separa-
tists as a people in revolt against God and in
rebellion against the Church and government.
But the tide of public opinion was turning, and
popular sentiment did not support the writers of
this pamphlet. Moreover, the secular affairs of
the colony were calling minds away from reli-
gious contentions as the stress of the Old French
War was more and more felt. In 1748, ventur-
ing upon the improvement in public sentiment,
Solomon Paine sent to the legislature a memorial
signed by three hundred and thirty persons and
asking for a repeal of such laws as debarred people
from enjoying the liberty " granted by God and
tolerated by the King."128 It was known to these
memorialists that a revision of the laws, first
undertaken in 1742, was nearing completion, and
their desire was that all obnoxious or unfair
acts should be repealed. The petition met with
a sharp rebuff, and, as a punishment, three mem-

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 269

bers were expelled from the Assembly for being
Separatists. But by such measures the Old
Lights were overreaching themselves. A mark
of the turning of public opinion was given this
same year, when, upon the request of his old
church in Hebron, the church vouching for his
work and character, the Assembly restored to
his ministerial rights and privileges the Rev.
James Pomeroy. The unjust laws of 1742-43
and of the following years were never formally
repealed, but were quietly dropped out of the
revision of the laws issued in 1750.

Thenceforth the people began to tolerate vari-
ety in religious opinions with better grace, and
the dominant authoritative rule of the Saybrook
Platform began to wane, though for twenty years
more it strove to assert its power. In 1755, the
Middletown Association advised licensing can-
didates for the ministry for a term of years. The
idea was to prevent errors arising from the
personal interpretation of the Scriptures and in-
difference to dogmatic truths of religion from
creeping into the churches. About the same
time, the Consociation of New Haven invited
their former member, Mr. Robbins of Branford,
to sit with them again at the installation of Mr.
Street of East Haven. Conciliatory acts and
measures such as these originated with both the

270 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Old and New Lights, and did much to lessen the
division between them. Discussion turned more
and more from personal opinions, character, and
abilities, to considerations of doctrinal points. The
churches found more and more in common, while
worldly interests left the masses with only a half-
hearted concern in church discussions.

To summarize the effect of the Great Awaken-
ing as evidenced by the great schism and its results
thus far considered : The strength of the revival
movement, as such, was soon spent. The number
of its converts throughout New England was esti-
mated by Dr. Dexter to be as high as forty or
fifty thousand, while later writers put it as low
as ten or twelve thousand, out of the entire pop-
ulation of three hundred thousand souls. The
years 1740-42 were the years of the Great Awak-
ening, and after them there were comparatively
few conversions during any given time. Even in
Jonathan Edwards's own church in Northampton
there were no converts between 1744 and 1748.
The influence of the Great Awakening was not,
however, transient, nor was it confined to the
Congregational churches, whether of the Cam-
bridge or the Saybrook type. Baptist churches
felt the impetus, receiving many directly into their
membership, and also indirectly, from those Sep-
aratist churches which found themselves too weak

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 271

to endure. Episcopalians added to their num-
bers from among religiously inclined persons who
sought a calm and stable church home unaffected
by church and political strife. The Great Awaken-
ing created the Separatist movement and the New
Light party, revitalized the Established churches,
invigorated others, and through the persecution
and counter-persecution that the great schism
produced, taught the Connecticut people more
and more of religious tolerance, and so brought
them nearer to the dawn of religious liberty.
Such liberty could only come after the downfall
of the Saybrook Platform, and after a complete
severance of Church and State. The last could
not come for three quarters of a century. Mean-
while the leaven of the great revival would be
workings On its intellectual side, the Great
Awakening led to the discussion of doctrinal
points, an advance from questions of church
polity. These themes of pulpit and of religious
press led, finally, to a live interest in practical
Christianity and to a more genial religion than
that which had characterized the Puritan age.
The Half- Way Covenant had been killed. Edu-
cation had received a new impulse, Christian mis-
sions were reinvigorated, and the monthly concert
of prayer for the conversion of the world was in-
stituted.129 True, French and Indian wars, the

272 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT

Spanish entanglement with its West Indian ex-
pedition, and the consuming political interests
of the years 1745-83, shortened the period of
energetic spiritual life, and ushered in another
half century of religious indifference. But during
that half century the followers of Edwards and
Bellamy were to develop a less severe and more
winning system of theology, and the fellowship
of the churches was to suggest the colonial
committees of safety as a preliminary to the
birth of a nation, founded upon the inherent
equality of all men before the law. This concep-
tion of political and civil liberty was to develop
side by side with a clearer notion of the value of
religious freedom.

CHAPTER XI

THE ABROGATION OF THE SAYBROOK
PLATFORM

That house cannot stand. — Mark iii, 25.
The times change and we change with them. — Proverb.

The omission of all persecuting acts from the
revision of the laws in 1750 was evidence that
the worst features of the great schism were pass-
ing, that public opinion as a whole had grown
averse to any great severity toward the Separa-
tists as dissenters. But the continuance in the
revised statutes of the Saybrook Platform as
the legalized constitution of the " Presbyterian,
Congregational or Consociated Church," and the
almost total absence of any provision for exempt-
ing Congregational Separatists from the taxes
levied in its behalf, operated, notwithstanding
the many acts of conciliation between these two
types of churches, to revive at times the milder
forms of persecution. And such injustice would
continue until the Separatists as a body were
legally exempted from ecclesiastical rates, and
until the Saybrook Platform was either formally

274: THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

annulled or, in its turn, quietly dropped from
the statute book. But henceforth, the measure
of intolerance would be determined more by local
sentiment and less by the text of the law, more
by the proportion of Old Lights to New in a
given community. And the measure of tolera-
tion must eventually take the form of legalized
rights rather than of special privileges, and this
through a growing appreciation of the value
of the Separatists as citizens. The abrogation of
the Saybrook Platform might follow upon a re-
affiliation of all Presbyterians and all Congre-
gationalists in a new spirit of mutual tolerance
and helpfulness. Whatever the events or influ-
ences that should bring about this reaffiliation,
the new bonds of church life would necessarily
lack the stringency of the palmy days of Say-
brook autocratic rule. Consequently when such
a time arrived, the Platform, at least in its let-
ter, could be dropped from the law-book. The
old colonial laws for the support of religion would
still suffice to protect and exalt the Establish-
ment, and to preserve it as the spiritual arm of
the State. It so happened that toleration was
granted to the Separatists at the beginning of
the Eevolutionary struggle, and that the abroga-
tion of the Saybrook Platform followed close
upon its victorious end. Many influences, both

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 275

religious and secular, had their part in bringing
about these progressive steps toward religious
freedom, toward full and free liberty of con-
science.

The revision of the laws completed in 1750
had been under consideration since 1742. At
the beginning of the great schism, the important
task had been placed in the hands of a com-
mittee consisting of Roger Wolcott, Thomas
Fitch, Jonathan Trumbull, and John Bulkley,
Judge of the Superior Court. The first three
names . are at once recognized as Connecticut's
chief magistrates in 1750-54, 1754-66, 1769-
1783, respectively. During the eight years that
the revision was in the hands of this commit-
tee, the church quarrel had passed its crisis ; the
Old Lights had slowly yielded their political, as
well as their ecclesiastical power ; and their con-
trolling influence was rapidly passing from them.
The Old French War, with its pressing affairs,
had so affected the life of the colony as to lessen
religious fervor, weaken ecclesiastical animosi-
ties, and, at the same time, to develop a broader
conception of citizenship.

English influence, moreover, had modified the
ecclesiastical laws in the revision of 1750. The
Connecticut authorities, when imbued with the
persecuting spirit, did not always stop to distin-

276 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

giiisli between the legally exempt Baptist dis-
senters and the unexempted Separatists. This
was due in part to the fact that many of the
latter, like the church of which . Isaac Backus
was the leader, went over to the Baptist denomi-
nation. The two sects held similar opinions upon
all subjects, except that of baptism. It was
much easier to obtain exemption from ecclesias-
tical taxes by showing Baptist certificates than
to run the risk of being denied exemption when
appeal was made to the Assembly, either indi-
vidually or as a church body, the form of petition
demanded of these Separatists. The persecuted
Baptists at once turned to England for assist-
ance, and to the Committee of English Dissenters,
of which Dr. Avery was chairman.

This committee had been appointed to look
after the interests of all dissenters, both in Eng-
land and in her colonies, for the English dissent-
ing bodies were growing in numbers and in
political importance. To this committee the Con-
necticut Baptists reported such cases of persecu-
tion as that of the Saybrook Separatist church,
which in 1744 suffered through the arrest of
fourteen of its members for " holding a meeting
contrary to law on God's holy Sabbath day."
These fourteen people were arraigned, fined, and
driven on foot through deep mud twenty-five

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 277

miles to New London, where they were thrust
into prison for refusing to pay their fines, and
left there without fire, food, or beds. There they
were kept for several weeks, dependent for the
necessaries of life upon the good will of neigh-
boring Baptists.130 The Separatists could report
the trials of the Separate church of Canterbury,
of that of Enfield, of the First Separate church
of Milford, hindered in the exercise of its legal
rights for over twenty years, and they could also
recount the persecution of churches and of indi-
viduals in Wether sfield, Windsor, Middletown,
Norwich, and elsewhere. Upon receiving such
reports, Dr. Avery had written, " I am very sorry
to hear of the persecuting spirit which pre-
vails in Connecticut. ... If any gentleman that
suffers by these coercive laws will apply to me,
I will use my influence that justice be done
them." The letter was read in the Assembly,
and is said to have influenced the committee of
revision, causing them to omit the persecuting
laws of 1742-44, in order that they might no
longer be quoted against the colony. Governor
Law replied to Dr. Avery that the disorders
and excesses of the dissenters had compelled the
very legislation of which they complained. To
which Dr. Avery returned answer that, while
disorders were to be regretted, civil penalties

278 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

were not their proper remedy. This was a senti-
ment that was gaining adherents in the colony
as well as in England. Among other instances
of persecution among the Baptists was that of
Samuel, brother of Isaac Backus, who in 1752,
with his mother and two members of the Bap-
tist society, was imprisoned for thirteen days
on account of refusal to pay the ecclesiastical
taxes.131 Another was that of Deacon Nathaniel
Drake, Jr.,132 of Windsor, who, in 1761, refused
to pay the assessment for the Second Society's
new meeting-house. For six years the magistrates
wrestled with the Deacon, striving to collect
the assessment. But the Deacon was obstinate,
and rather than pay a tax of which his con-
science disapproved, he preferred to be branded
in the hand. Outside of Baptist or Separatist,
there were other afflicted churches, such as that
of Wallingford,133 where the New Lights could
complain that, in 1758, the Consociation of New
Haven county had refused to install the can-
didate of the majority, Mr. Dana; and had
attempted to discipline the twelve ministers who
had united in ordaining him ; and that as a result
the twelve were forced to meet in an Association
by themselves for fourteen years, or until 1772.
The Separatists attempted to obtain exemp-
tion through petitions to the Assembly, trusting

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 279

that, as each new election sent more and more
New Lights to that body, each prayer for re-
lief would be more favorably received. One of
the most important of these petitions was that
of 1753, when more than twenty Separatist
churches, representing about a thousand mem-
bers, united in an appeal wherein they com-
plained of the distraining of their goods to meet
assessments and taxes for the benefit of the
Established churches ; of imprisonments, with
consequent deprivation of comforts for their
families ; and of the danger to the civil peace
threatened by these evils. The Assembly refused
redress. Whereupon the petition was at once
reconstructed,0 and, with authentic records and
testimonies, to which Governor Fitch set the seal
of Connecticut, was sent, in 1756,134 to London.
The Committee in behalf of Dissenters were to
see that it was presented to the King in Council.
The petition charged violation of the colony's
charter, excessive favoritism, and legislation in
favor of one Christian sect to the exclusion of
all others and to the oppression, even, of some.
The English Committee thought that these charges
might anger the King and endanger the Con-
necticut charter. Accordingly, they again wrote

a As a petition " To the King's Most Excellent Majesty in
Council."

280 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

to the Connecticut authorities, remonstrating with
them because of their treatment of dissenters.
At the same time, they sent a letter advising the
petitioners to show their loyalty to the best in-
terests of the colony by withdrawing their com-
plaint. These dissenters were further advised to
begin at once a suit in the Connecticut courts
for their rights, and with the intent of carrying
their case to England, should the colony fail to
do them justice. Legal proceedings were imme-
diately begun, but were allowed to lapse, partly
because of the press of secular interests, for the
colonial wars, the West India expedition, and
other affairs of great moment. claimed attention,
and partly because there were indications that
the government would regard the Separatists
more favorably.

In the colony itself a change was taking place
through which the college was to go over to the
side of the New Lights. In 1755, President
Clap had established the College Church in order
to remove the students from the party strife
that was still distracting the churches. In order
to avoid a conflict over the matter, he refused to
ask the consent of the Assembly, claiming the
right of an incorporated college and the prece-
dent of the English universities, since, in 1745,
the Assembly had formally incorporated " The

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 281

President and Fellows of Yale College," vesting
in them all the usual powers appertaining to
colleges. In the same year, also, the initial step
toward establishing a chair of divinity had been
taken, and it became the first toward the found-
ing of the separate College Church. President
Clap always maintained that " the great design
of founding Yale was to educate ministers in
our way," 135 and the chair of divinity had been
established in answer to the suggestion of the
Court that the college take measures to protect its
students from the New Light movement. Presi-
dent Clap was hurried on in his policy of estab-
lishing the College Church both by his desire to
separate the students from the New Light con-
troversy in Mr. Noyes's church, where they were
wont to attend, and by an appeal to him, in
1753, of Rector Punderson, the priest recently
placed in charge of the Church-of-England mis-
sion in New Haven. The rector had two sons
in college, and he asked that they and such other
collegians as were Episcopalians might be per-
mitted to attend the Church-of-England services.
President Clap refused to give the desired per-
mission, except for communion and some special
services, and he at once proceeded to organize
a church within the college. The trustees and
faculty upheld him, but the Old Lights, then

282 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

about two-thirds of the deputies to the Assem-
bly, opposed his course of action, and succeeded
in taking away the annual grant that, at the in-
corporation of the college, had been given to
Yale. After this, they regarded President Clap
as a " political New Light," but as the latter
party increased in the Assembly, and became
friendly to Yale, the college gradually reinstated
itself in the favor of the legislature.

If in his petitions the Separatist demanded
only exemption, only that much toleration, in
his controversial writings he ably argued the
right of all men to full liberty of conscience.
Unfortunately, the ignorance and follies of many
of the Separatists, when battling in advance of
their age for religious liberty, militated against
the logic of their position. Harmony among
themselves would have commended and strength-
ened their cause, and given it a forceful dignity.
They blundered, as did their English predeces-
sors of a much earlier date, by laying too much
stress upon the individual, upon his interpreta-
tions of Scripture, and upon his right of criti-
cism. Much of their work in behalf of religious
liberty took the form of pamphleteering. Again,
it was their misfortune that the Establishment
could boast of writers of more ability and of
greater training. Yet the Separatists had some

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 283

bold thinkers, some able advocates, and, as time
wore on, and their numbers were increased and
disciplined, the strength and quality of their peti-
tions and published writings improved greatly.
Sometimes these dissenters were helped by the
theories of their opponents, which, when pushed
to logical conclusions and practical application,
often became strong reasons for granting the
very liberty the Separatists sought. Sometimes
an indignant member of the Establishment,
smarting under its interference, was roused to
forceful expression of the broader notions of
personal and church liberty that were slowly
spreading through the community. A few ex-
tracts from typical pamphlets of the time will
give an idea of the atmosphere surrounding the
disputants.

In 1749, a tract was issued from the New
London press by one E. H. M. A. entitled,
" The present way of the Country in maintain-
ing the Gospel ministry by a Public Rate or
Tax is Lawful, Equitable, and agreable to the
Gospel ; As the same is argued and proved in
way of Dialogue between John Queristicus and
Thomas Casuisticus, near Neighbors in the
County." In answer to this, and for the purpose
of vindicating the religious practices and opin-
ions of the Separatists, Ebenezer Frothingham, a

284 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Separatist minister, took the field in 1750 as the
champion of religious liberty. His book of four
hundred and fifty pages had for its title "The
Articles of Faith and Practice with the Cove-
nant that is confessed by the Separate Churches
of Christ in this land. Also a discourse." So
influential and so characteristic was this work,
that rather long extracts from it are permis-
sible, and, with a few arguments from other
writers, will serve to reflect the thought and feel-
ing of the day, and will best give the point of
view of both dissenter and member of the Estab-
lishment, of liberal and conservative ; for the
pamphlet of the period was apt to be religious
or political, or more likely both.

Frothingham, speaking of the injustice done
the Separatists, writes : —

That religion that hath not authority and power
enough within itself to influence its professors to sup-
port the same, without Bargains, Taxes or Rates, and
the Civil Power, and Prisons, &c. is a false Religion.
. • . Now, if the Religion generally professed and
practiced in this land, be the Religion of Jesus
Christ, why do they strain away the Goods of the
Professors of it, and waste their substance to support
it ? which has frequently been done. And which is
worse, why do they take their Neighbors (that don't
worship with them, but have solemnly covenanted to
worship God in another place) by the throat, and

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 285

cast them into Prison ? or else for a Rate of Twenty-
Shillings, Three or Six Pounds, send away Ten,
Twenty, or Thirty Pounds worth of Goods, and set
them up at Vendue ; where they will generally as-
semble the poor, miserable Drunkard, and the awful
foul-mouthed Swearer, and the bold, covetous, Blas-
phemous Scoffer at things Sacred and Divine, and
the Scum of Society for the most part will be to-
gether, to count and make their Games about the
Goods upon Sale, and at the owners of them too, and
at the Holy Religion that the Owners thereof pro-
fess ; and at such Vendues there are rarely any solid,
thinking men to be found there ; or if there are any
such present, they do not care to act in that oppres-
sive way of supporting the Gospel. Such men find
something is the matter. God's Vice-regent in their
Breasts, tells them it is not equal to make such
Havock of men's Estates, to support a Worship they
have nothing to do with ; yes, the Consciences of
these persons will trouble them so that they had
rather pay twice their part of the Rates, and so let
the oppressed Party go free.

Upon the difficulty of securing collectors,
Frothingham remarks : " If it be such a good
Cause, and no good men in the Society, to under-
take that good Work, surely then such a Society
is awfully declined, if that is the case." Froth-
ingham quotes the Suttler of the " Dialogue "
as saying, " We have good reason to believe,
that if this Hedge of human Laws, and Enclo-

28G THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

sure of Order round the Church, were wholly
broken down, and taken away, there would not
be, ('tis probable) one regular visible Church
left subsisting iu this land, fifty years hence, or,
at most, not many." To this, Frothingham re-
plied that if by the " visible church, here spoken
of," is meant " Anti-Christ's Church, we should
be apt to believe it," for " it needs Civil Power,
Rates and Prisons to support it. But if the
Gospel Church, set up at first without the aid
of civil power could continue and spread, why
can't it subsist without the Civil Power now as
well as then ? " " To this day," this author adds,
" the true Church of Christ is in bondage, by
usurping Laws that unrighteously intrude upon
her ecclesiastical Rights and civil Enjoyments ;
. . . And Wo ! Wo ! to New England ! for the
God-provoking Evil, which is too much indulged
by the great and mighty in the Land. The cry
of oppression is gone up into the ears of the
Lord God of Sabbaoth."

Frothingham thrusts at the payment or sup-
port of the ministry by taxation in his assertion
that " there is no instance of Paul's entering
into any civil Contract or Bargain, to get his
wages or Hire, in all his Epistles ; but we have
frequent accounts of his receiving free contribu-
tions." 136 (Here, he but repeats a part of the

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 287

Baptist protest in the Wightman-Bulkley debate
of 1707.) Frothingham states that " the scope
and burden of it [his book] were to shew . . .
both from scripture and reason that the stand-
ing ministers and Churches in this Colony [Con-
necticut] are not practising in the rule of God's
word."

The book at once commanded the attention
desired by its author. It drew upon Froth-
ingham the concentrated odium of the Rev.
Moses Bartlett, pastor of the Portland church, in
a fifty-four-paged pamphlet entitled " False and
Seducing Teachers." Among such Bartlett in-
cludes and roundly denounces Frothingham and
the two Paines, Solomon and his brother Elisha.
Elisha Paine had removed to Long Island. Re-
turning to Canterbury for some of his household
goods, he was seized by the sheriff for rates over-
due, and thrown into Windham jail.137 After
waiting some weeks for his release, he sent the
following bold and spicy letter to the Canterbury
assessors : —

To you gentlemen, practioners of the law from
your prisoner in Windham gaol, because his con-
science will not let him pay a minister that is set up
by the laws of Connecticut, contrary to his conscience
and consent.

The Roman Emperor was called Pontif ex Maxi-

288 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

mus, because he presided over civil and ecclesiastical
affairs ; which is the first beast that persecuted the
Christians that separated from the Established reli-
gion, which they call the holy religion of their fore-
fathers ; and by their law, fined, whipped, imprisoned
and killed such as refused obedience thereto. We
all own that the Pope or Papal throne is the second
beast, because he is the head of the ecclesiastical, and
also meddles in civil affairs. . . . He also compels
all under him to submit to his worship, decrees and
laws, by whips, fines, prisons, fire and fagots. Now
what your prisoner requests of you is a clear distinc-
tion between the Ecclesiastical Constitution of Con-
necticut, by which I am now held in prison, and the
aforesaid two thrones or beasts in the foundation, con-
stitution and support thereof. For if by Scripture and
reason you can show they do not all stand on the
throne mentioned in Psalm xciv : 20,° but that the
latter is founded on the Rock Christ Jesus, I will con-
fess my fault and soon clear myself of the prison.
But if this Constitution hath its rise from that throne
. . . better is it to die for Christ, than to live against
him.

From an old friend to this civil constitution, and
long your prisoner. Elisha Paine.

Windham Jail, Dec. 11, 1752.

In 1744, in addition to his memorials and let-
ters, Solomon Paine had published " A Short

a "Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee,
which f raineth mischief by law ? "

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 289

View of the Constitution of the Church of Christ,
and the Difference between it and the Church
Established in Connecticut." Frothingham, when
alluding to Moses Bartlett's denunciation of him-
self and Paine, refers to this book in his remark,
" Elder Paine and myself have labored to prove,
and I think it evident, that the religious Consti-
tution of this Colony is not founded upon the
Scriptures of truth, but upon men's inventions."
In the year 1755, the same in which he estab-
lished the college church, President Clap issued
his " History and Vindication of the doctrines
received and established in the Churches of New
England," a to which Thomas Darling's " Some
Remarks on President Clap's History " was a
scathing rejoinder. Darling asserted that for the
President to uphold the Saybrook System of Con-
sociated Churches was to set up the standards
of men, a thing the forefathers never did ; 138 that
the picture of the Separatists' " New Scheme,"
which the President drew, was a scandalous spir-
itual libel ; 139 and then, falling into the per-
sonal attacks permitted in those days, Darling
adds that President Clap was an overzealous

a The " History " is brief, and the " Vindication " is largely
of President Clap's own reasons for establishing' the college
church. See F. B. Dexter, " President Clap and his Writings,"
in New Haven Hist. Soc. Papers, vol. v, pp. 256-257.

290 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

sycophant of the General Assembly, a servant of
politics rather than of religion, and that it would
be better for him to trust to the real virtues of
the Consociated Church to uphold it than to
strive for legal props and legislative favors for
his " ministry-factory," 140 the college. To raise
the cry of heresy, Darling declared, was the
President's political powder, and " The Church,
the Church is in danger ! " his rallying cry. He
concluded his arraignment with : —

But would a man be tried, judged and excommuni-
cated by such a standard as this ? No ! Not so long
as they had one atom of common sense left. These
things will never go down in a free State, where
people are bred in, and breathe the free air, and are
formed upon principles of liberty ; they might answer
in a popish country, or in Turkey, where the common
people are sunk and degraded almost to the state of
brutes. . . . But in a free state they will be eternally
ridiculed and abhorred. ... 'T is too late in the Day
for these things, these gentlemen should have lived
twelve or thirteen hundred years ago.

Among the champions of religious liberty was
the Seventh-day Baptist, John Bolles. He wrote
" To worship God in Spirit and in Truth, is to
worship him in true Liberty of Conscience," and
also " Concerning the Christian Sabbath, which
that Sabbath commanded to Israel, after they

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 291

came out of Egypt, was a Sign of. Also Some
Remarks upon a Book written by Ebenezer
Frothingham." These works were published in
1757, and, five years later, called out in defense
of the Establishment Robert Ross's " Plain
Address to the Quakers, Moravians, Separates,
Separatist-Baptists, Rogerines, and other Enthu-
siasts on immediate impulses, and Revelation,
&c," wherein the author considers all those
whom he addresses as on a level with Frothing-
ham, whom he names and scores for " tram-
pling on all Churches and their Determinasions,
but your own, with the greatest disdain." 141

In the same year, 1762, the Separatist Israel
Holly published a defense of his opinions, quot-
ing freely from Dr. Watts and from his own
earlier work, " A Seasonable Plea for Liberty
of Conscience, and the Right of private Judg-
ment in matters of Religion, without any con-
trol from Human Authority." This " A Word in
Zion's Behalf " a boldly ranges itself with Froth-

a " Let no man, orders of man, Civil or Ecclesiastical Ru-
lers, majority, or any whoever pretend they have a right to
enjoyn upon me what I shall believe and practice in matters
of Religion, and I bound to subject to their Injunctions, unless
they can convince me, that in case there should happen to be
a mistake, that they will suffer the consequences, and not I ;
that they will bear the wrath of God, and suffer Damnation,
in my room and stead. But if they can't do this, don't let

292 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

ingham and Bolles, arguing against, and em-
phatically opposing, the state control of religion.
Holly also engaged in a printed controversy,
publishing in connection with it " The Power of
the Congregational Church to ordain its officers
and govern itself."

In 1767, while the Separatists still outnum-
bered the Baptists in Connecticut, Ebenezer
Frothingham put forth another powerful and
closely argued tract, " A Key to unlock the
Door, that leads in, to take a fair view of the
Religious Constitution Established by Law in
the Colony of Connecticut,"0 etc. In his preface
he states : —

The main Thing I have in View thro' the whole
of this Book is free Liberty of Conscience . . . the

them pretend to a right to determine for me what religion I
shall have. For if I must stand or fall for myself, then, pray
let me judge, and act and choose (in Matters of Religion) for
myself now. Yea, when I view these things in the Light of
the Day of Judgment approaching, I am ready to cry out
Hands off ! Hands off ! Let none pretend a right to my sub-
jection in matters of Religion, but my Judge only ; or, if any
do require it, God strengthen me to refuse to grant it." A
Word in Zion's Behalf. Quoted by E. H. Gillett in Hist.
Magazine, 2d series, vol. iv, p. 10.

a A Key to unlock the Door, that leads in, to take a fair view
of the Religious Constitution Established by Law in the Colony of
Connecticut; With a Short Observation upon the Explanation
of the Say-Brook-Plan ; and Mr. HobarVs Attempt to establish
the same Plan, by Ebenezer Frothingham.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 293

Right of thinking and choosing and acting for one's
self in matters of Religion, which respects God and
Conscience . . . for my Readers may see Liberty of
Conscience, was the main and leading Point in View
in planting this Land and Colony.

Frothingham defines the Religious Constitu-
tion as " certain Laws in the Colony Law Book,
called ecclesiastical, with the Confession of
Faith, agreed upon by the Elders and Messen-
gers of the Churches, met at Saybrook, espe-
cially the Articles of Administration of Church
Discipline." This Constitution Plan " gives the
General Assembly (which is, and always should
so remain, a civil body to transact in civil and
moral things) power to constitute or make a
spiritual or ecclesiastical body." 142

Such power, Frothingham maintains, is con-
trary to reason. Citing from the Colony Law
Book the statute, " Concerning who shall vote
in town or Society meeting " Frothingham com-
ments thus : —

This supposes no person to have a right to form
themselves into a religious society without their [the
Assembly's] leave. No, — not King George the Third
himself would have liberty to worship God according
to his conscience. [Yet] any Atheist, Deist, Arian,
Socinian, a Prophane Drunkard, a Sorcerer, a Thief,
if they have such a freehold (as the law demands),

294 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

can vote to keep out a minister. [Such a] plan chal-
lenges the sole right of making religious societies and
the government of conscience. Yea, I think it as-
sumes the prerogative that belongs to the Son of God
alone. 148

The fines for the neglect of the established wor-
ship and for assembling for worship approved by
conscience [leave] no gap for one breath of gospel
liberty. For if we exercise our gifts and graces in
the lawful assemblies, we are had up, and carried
to prison, for making disturbance on the Sabbath.
I myself have been confined in Hartford prison near
five months, for nothing but exhorting and warning
the people, after the public worship was done and the
assembly dismissed. And while I was there confined,
three more persons were sent to prison ; one for
exhorting, and two for worshipping God in a private
house in a separate meeting. And quick after I was
released, by the laws being answered by natural re-
lations unbeknown to me, then two brethren more
was committed for exhorting and preaching, and sev-
eral afterward, for attending the same duties and I
myself was twice more sent to prison for the minis-
ters rates.144

I have no Man or Men's persons as such, in View
in my Writings, But would as much as is proper,
separate Ministers, Civil Rulers, and Churches, from
the Constitution, and consider this Religious Consti-
tution as it is compiled or written, as though it was
not established in this Colony ; but presented here
from some remote part of Christendom, for Examina-

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 295

tion, to see if it was according to the Word of God,
and the sacred Right of Conscience.145

In scathing terms, Frothingham attacks the
" Anti-Christian " character of the Establish-
ment and its fear that, by granting liberty of
conscience, an open door for church separation
would result, and thereby its speedy downfall,
because of the multiplication of churches and the
loss of taxes enforced for its support. Experi-
ence had taught the authorities that, even when
all the people favored one form of religion, com-
pulsory support had to be resorted to as a spur
to individual contributious. Moreover, the best
governments of which they knew had recourse to
a similar system in order to maintain purity of
religion and the moral welfare of the state. The
authorities could not see, as did the champion
of religious liberty, the opportunities of oppres-
sion that such a system afforded ; nor could they
feel with him the harshness of its taxation, nor
the injustice of distraining dissenters' goods, —
or, as he phrased it, " their lack of faith in God
and in God's people to uphold religion." They
certainly would not acknowledge Frothingham's
charge that they seriously feared the loss of
political power through the granting of soul lib-
erty, and as a consequence the probable disinte-
gration of the Establishment.

296 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Frothingham argues that to suffer the exist-
ence of different sects would really strengthen
the authority of the colony; since, —

when persons know that the Most High is alone the
absolute Lord of Conscience ; that no mortal breath-
ing has any right to hinder them from thinking and
acting for themselves, in religious affairs . . . the law
of nature, reason and grace will lay subjects under
strong obligations to their rulers, when equal justice
is ministered to them of different principles, in the
practice of religion.146

Frothingham confutes the declaration that there
was liberty of conscience in the colony, " for the
separates have gone to the General Assembly
with their prayers, from year to year, asking
nothing but their just rights, full and free liberty
of conscience, and have been, and still are, denied
their request."

Furthermore, the colony law supported crim-
inals in prison and gave the poor man's oath to
debtors, but nothing to the man who was in
prison for conscience's sake. Such a one was
dependent upon the charity of his friends for
the very necessities of life. Such laws and the
ecclesiastical constitution which they support
become —

a forfeiture of the charter grant because they exer-
cise that oppression and persecution contrary to its

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 297

first intent, and are the direct cause of contention and
disunion, which is repugnant to the principal design
of constituting the colony ; viz. that it " May be so
religiously, peaceably and civilly governed as may win
and invite the natives to the Christian faith." m

This " Key to unlock the Door " was probably
the strongest work put forth from the dissenter's
standpoint, and within three years it was fol-
lowed by a legislative act granting a measure of
toleration. But there were other important books
of similar character. Two among these were
Eobert Bragge's "Church Discipline,"0 re-
printed in 1768, and Joseph Brown's (Baptist)
" Letter to the Infant Baptizers of North Parish
in New London." Brown closes his book with a
mild and reasonable appeal to every one to try

° Robert Bragge, Church Discipline, London, 1738. The au-
thor takes for his text 1 Peter ii, 45, and under ten heads con-
siders the Congregational church as the true Scriptural church,
its rights, privileges, etc. Under topic four, " The Charter of
this House," he says : " The charter of this house exempts all
its inhabitants from obeying the whole ceremonial law : . . .
from the doctrines of men in matters of faith, . . . from man's
commands in the worship of God. Man can no more prescribe
how God shall be worshipped, under the new testament than
he could under the old. ... He alone who is in the bosom of
the Father hath declared this. To worship God according to
the will and pleasure of men is, in a sense to attempt to de-
throne him : for it is not only to place man's will on a level
with God's, but above it." — Church Discipline, p. 39.

298 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

to put himself in the place of the oppressed dis-
senter." In Brown's argument, as in that of the
majority of the dissenters, the plea is for tolera-
tion in the choice of the form of religion to be sup-
ported, and not for liberty to support or neglect
religion itself. Those who believed in the volun-
tary support of religion were not seeking exemp-
tion as individuals, but as organized societies
or churches, whose highest privilege it was to

a " Now suffer me to say something respecting the unrea-
sonableness of compelling the people of our persuasion to hear
or support the minister of another. Can a person who has been
redeemed, be so ungrateful as to hire a minister to preach up a
doctrine which in his heart he believes to be directly contrary to
the institutions of his redeemer ? How if one of you should hap-
pen to be in the company with a number of Roman Catholicks,
who should tell you that if you would not hire a minister to
preach transubstantiation and the worshipping of images to your
children and to an unlearned people, they would cut off your
head ; would you do it ? Can you any better submit to hire a
minister to preach up a doctrine which you in your heart be-
lieve contrary to the institution of Christ ? I do not doubt but
that many of you, and I do not know but that all of you know
what it is to experience redeeming love ; and if so, now can you
take a person of another persuasion, and put him in gaol for a
trifling sum, destroy his estate and ruin his family (as you sig-
nify the law will bear you out) and when he is careful to sup-
port the religion which he in his conscience looks upon to
be right, who honestly tells you it is wronging his conscience
to pay your minister, and that he may not do so though he
suffer ? ... Is it not shame ? Are we sharers in redemption,
and do we grudge to support religion ? No : let us seek for the
truth of the gospel. If we can't think alike, let us not be cruel
one to another."

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 299

support Christ's teachings. Considered from this
point of view, they were only seeking those privi-
leges which had been granted the Episcopalians,
the Quakers, and Baptists in 1727-29. Looked
at from the point of view of the government,
however, these Separatists varied so slightly from
the legalized polity and worship, and yet withal
so dangerously, that they did not deserve to be
classed as " sober dissenters." To recognize
them as such would be to set the seal of approval
upon all who chose to question the authority, or
the righteousness, of the Saybrook system. With
the fear of such an undermining of authority,
and realizing the increasing tendency of churches
throughout the colony to renounce the Saybrook
Platform, the very conservative people felt that
to grant toleration to the Separatists might prove
disastrous both to Church and civil order.

While the Baptists and the Separatists were
waging the battle for toleration and for religious
liberty with the great weapon of their time, —
the pamphlet, — the Consociated Churches were
also making valiant use of it, not only in de-
fense of the Establishment, but in controversial
warfare among themselves, for in the New Eng-
land of the second half of the eighteenth cen-
tury, two schools of religious thought were slowly
developing. They gained converts more rapidly

300 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

as the means of communication, of publication,
and of exchange of opinion increased. The
improvement of roads, the introduction of car-
riages and coaches, the establishment of print-
ing-presses, and the founding of newspapers,
were important agents in developing and mould-
ing public opinion. Of these, the printing-press
was foremost, for with its pamphlet and its
newspaper it gained a hearing not only in the
cities, but in the isolated farmhouses of New Eng-
land, carrying on its weekly visit the gist of the
secular and religious news.

The newspaper made its first appearance in
Connecticut in 1755, when the " Connecticut
Gazette " a issued from the recently established
New Haven press. The newspaper arrived later
in the distant colony of Connecticut than in
those on the seaboard that were in closer touch
with European thought by reason of their more
direct and frequent sailing vessels. Among

a Connecticut Gazette (New Haven) April 1755-Apr. 14,
1764 ; suspended ; revived July 5, 1765-Feb. 19, 176a The
New London Gazette, founded in 1703, was after 1768 known
as the Connecticut Gazette, except from Dee. 10, 1773, to
May 11, 1787, when it was called The Connecticut Gazette and
Universal Intelligencer.

Maryland published her first newspaper in 1727, Rhode
Island and South Carolina in 1732, Virginia in 1736, North
Carolina in 1755, New Hampshire in 1756, while Georgia fell
into line in 1763.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 301

American newspapers, the year 1704 saw the
birth of the " Boston News Letter " ; the year
1719, of the "Boston Gazette" and of the
" American Weekly Mercury " of Philadelphia.
Boston added a third paper, the " New England
Courant," in 1721, while New York issued its
first sheet in 1725. Benjamin Franklin founded
the " Pennsylvania Gazette "in 1729, and, in
1741, began the publication of the " General
Magazine and Historical Chronicle for all the
British Plantations in America." In 1743, Bos-
ton sent out the " American Magazine and
Historical Chronicle," containing, along with
European news, not only lists of new books and
excerpts therefrom, but full reprints of the best
essays from the English magazines. New York,
in 1752, issued the " Independent Reflector," a
magazine of similar character. Thus, through
papers and magazines, as well as through a lim-
ited importation of books, and through personal
correspondence, the life of Europe, and preemi-
nently of England, was brought home to the
colonists.

In the religious non-prelatical world of Eng-
land, the Presbyterian churches were undergoing
a transformation, and were, by 1750, prevailingly
Arian. The English Congregationalists resisted
Arianism, but they, also, felt its influence, as

302 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

well as that of Arminianism, and they began to
attach less importance to creeds, and to develop
a broader tolerance of many shades of religious
belief. New England sympathized more with the
Congregational movement, but, as interest in
both was awakened, English thought came to
have great influence in the religious development
of New England during the next half -century.
Broadly speaking of these progressive changes,
Connecticut, and Connecticut-trained men in
western Massachusetts, developed the so-called
New Divinity, while Massachusetts clergy, espe-
cially those of her eastern section, favored that
liberal theology which, after the Revolutionary
period, gave rise to the Unitarian conflict.

The older religious controversies had concerned
themselves with church polity, or, popularly speak-
ing, with what men thought concerning their re-
lation to God through his church, in distinction
from doctrine, or what men felt should be their
attitude towards God and their fellow-men. Push-
ing aside polity and doctrine, the twentieth cen-
tury emphasizes action, or man's reflection of the
life of Christ. Doctrine came to the front with
Jonathan Edwards. In his opposition to the Ar-
minian teaching of the value of a sincere obedience
to God's laws and " the efficacy of means of
grace," Jonathan Edwards asserted the Calvin-

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 303

istic idea of the sovereignty of God, and main-
tained that justification was by faith alone ; but
his idea of justification held within it the duty
of personal responsibility in loving and obeying
God. Edwards, though defining love as general
benevolence, a delight in God's holiness, and the
essence of all true virtue, did introduce, as fac-
tors in personal religion, the will and the emo-
tions. These characteristics of true, personal
religion, as his mind, influenced by the Great
Awakening, conceived and elaborated them, he
set forth in his " Religious Affections," pub-
lished in 1746. In his " Qualifications for Full
Communion," 1749, he again dwelt upon the
same theme ; but his main purpose was to uproot
the Half- Way Covenant practice and the Stod-
dardean view of the Lord's supper. He attempted
to do this by exposing the inefficiency of
" means," and at English Arminianism in par-
ticular Edwards leveled his " Freedom of the
Will," a published in 1754. His friend and dis-
ciple, Joseph Bellamy, put forth in 1750 " True
Religion Delineated," wherein he advances from
Edwards's limited atonement theory to that of
a general one.& In 1758, Bellamy, in brilliant

a Edwards's Nature of True Virtue, written about 1755, was
not published until 1765.

b This book, otherwise essentially Edwardean, was second

304 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

dialogue, replied to " A Winter's Evening Con-
versation Upon the Doctrine of Original Sin in
which the Notion of our having sinned in Adam
and being on that Account only liable to eternal
Damnation, is proved to be unscriptural," a book
by Rev. Samuel Webster of Salisbury, Massa-
chusetts, and of which a reprint had appeared
from the New Haven Press in 1757, the year
of its publication. Bellamy took sides with the
Rev. Peter Clark of Danvers, Massachusetts,
who replied in " A Summer Morning's Conver-
sation." Both men summoned as their authority
a work of Edwards, " Original Sin Defended,"
which was about to appear from the press, and
to which Edwards's followers were looking for-
ward as the last work of their master, he having
died while its pages were still in press. Edwards
had destined the book to be a refutation of Eng-
lish Arianism of the Taylor school, of which
Webster was a follower. This same year, 1758,
Bellamy discoursed upon " The Wisdom of God
in the Permission of Sin," and gave a series of
sermons on " The Divinity of Jesus Christ," a
defense of the Trinity, which Jonathan Mayhew

only to Edwards's Religious Affections in popularity and in its
success in spreading the influence of this school of theology,
and it did much, in Connecticut, to break down the opposition
to the New Divinity. Edwards himself approved its manu-
script, and in his writings recommended it highly.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 305

of Boston had attacked. Bellamy may have felt
that this defense was due from a Connecticut
man because the colony, strenuously orthodox,
had in the revision of the laws in 1750 added
the requirement of a belief in the Trinity, and
caused the denial thereof to be ranked as felony.
Denial of the Trinity, or of the divine inspira-
tion of the Scriptures, was punishable, for the
first offense, by ineligibility to office, whether
ecclesiastical, civil, or military, and, upon a sec-
ond conviction, by disability to sue, to act as
guardian or as administrator.148 Though there
was never a conviction under the statute, the
presence of such a law in the colony code indi-
cates the religious temper of her people at a time
when radical changes were- creeping into man's
conception of religion.

Joseph Bellamy's influence, great as it was as
writer and preacher, was even greater as a teacher.
His home in Bethlehem from 1738 to 1790 was
virtually a divinity school, and it is estimated
that at least sixty students, trained in his system
of theology and in his antagonism to the Half-
Way Covenant,0 spread through New England

a In 1769-70, Bellamy wrote a series of tracts and dia-
logues against this practice. They were very effective in
causing its abandonment by those conservative churches that
had so long clung to its use.

30G THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

an influence counter to that of the May hews,
Briant,0 Webster, and other disciples of the
Liberal Theology. Upon Bellamy, as a leader,
fell Edwards's mantle.

While Bellamy was the great exponent of
Jonathan Edwards's teachings in Connecticut,
another friend and famous pupil of the great
divine's, Samuel Hopkins, taught at Great
Barrington, Massachusetts, 1743-69, and in
Newport, Rhode Island, 1770-1803, urging an
extension of his master's principles — especially
of that of " benevolence." Hopkins, however,
attributed a certain value to " means of grace,"
while teaching that sin and virtue consist in

« Experience Mayhew in his Grace Defended, of 1744.

Lemuel Briant's The Absurdity and Blasphemy of Depreciat-
ing Moral Virtue, 1749. This was replied to in Massachusetts,
by Rev. John Porter of North Bridgewater in The Absurdity
and Blasphemy of Substituting the Personal Righteousness of
Men, etc. ; also by a sermon of Rev. Thomas Foxcrof t, Dr.
Charles Chauncy's colleague ; and by Rev. Samuel Niles's
Vindication of Divers Important Gosjiel Doctrines.

Jonathan Mayhew, son of Experience, wrote his Sermons
(pronouncedly Arian) in 1755, and in 1761 two sermons. Striv-
ing to Enter at the Strait Gate.

Other ministers were affected by these unorthodox views,
notably Ebenezer Gay, Daniel Shute, and John Rogers. This
Teligious development was cut short by the early death of
the leaders and by the Revolutionary contest. Briant died in
17-~>4. Jonathan Mayhew in 1706, and his father in 175S. — See
W. Walker, Hist, of the Congregational Churches in the United
States, chap. viii.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 307

exercise of the will, or in definite acts.a Conse-
quently, he included in his theology a denial of
man's responsibility for Adam's sin, which Ed-
wards had maintained. Hopkins advocated also
a willing and disinterested submission to God's
will, the Hopkinsian " to be saved or damned,"
since God, in his wisdom, will do that which is
best for his universe. These characteristic doc-
trines, both of Bellamy and Hopkins, were
modified by the younger generation of students,
notably by Stephen West, John Smalley, Jona-
than Edwards, Jr., and — greatest of all —
Nathaniel Emmons, who, together with the first
Timothy Dwight, were to introduce two sub-
schools of the New Divinity.6 Emmons, folio w-

« Hopkins replied in 1765 to Jonathan Mayhew's sermons
of 1761. Mayhew died before he could answer, but Moses
Hemenway of Wells, Maine, and also Jedediah Mills of Hunt-
ington, Conn, (a New Light sympathizer), answered Hopkins's
extreme views in 1767 in An Inquiry concerning the State of the
TJnregenerate under the Gospel. This involved Hopkins in fur-
ther argumentation in 1769, and drew into the discussion Wil-
liam Hart (Old Light) of Saybrook, and also Moses Mather
of Darien, Conn, (also Old Light). This attack upon Hop-
kins resulted in 1773 in his greatest work, An Inquiry into the
Nature of True Holiness. The whole question at stake between
the Old Calvinists and the followers of the New Divinity was
how to class men, morally upright, who made no pretensions
to religious experience.

6 West, in his Essay on Moral Agency, defended Edwards's
Freedom of the Will against the Rev. James Dana of New
Haven in 1772, but his Scripture Doctrine of Atonement, pub-

308 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

ing Hopkins, developed extreme views of sin,
even in little children ; held the theories of re-
probation and election ; and was most intensely
Calvin istic. D wight developed a more concil-
iatory and benign system of theology, but his
influence, as founder of a school of religious
thought, belongs to the post-Revolutionary era.
Emmons held one long pastorate at Franklin,
Massachusetts, 1773-1827,° where, as a trainer
of youth for the ministry, his influence was
greatest, and his powers at their best. Nearly a
hundred ministers passed to their pulpits from
his tutelage.

Such were the teachings that fashioned a gen-
eration of preachers, of ministers, wielding a tre-
mendous influence over the men and measures of
pre-Revolutionary and Revolutionary days. The
clergy were then the close friends of their parish-
ioners ; their counselors in all matters, spiritual
or worldly ; and frequently their arbitrators in

lished in 1785, was his best-known work. In his doctrinal
views, he was greatly influenced by Hopkins. Both West and
Smalley trained students for the ministry. The latter was the
teacher of Nathaniel Emmons. Smalley was settled in what
is now New Britain, Conn., from 1757-1820.

a Emmons died there, in 1840, at the age of ninety-five.
Apart from his influence upon the development of doctrine,
he did more than any other man to bring- back the early inde-
pendence of the churches and to create the Congregational
polity of the present day.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 309

disputed rights, for the legal class was still small,
and its services costly. The pastor knew inti-
mately every soul in his parish. He was the
State's moral guardian. He was the intellectual
leader and more, for, in the scarcity of books
and newspapers, not alone in his Sunday ser-
mon but in those on fast days and thanksgivings,
and on all public and semi-public occasions, he
talked to his people upon current events. The
story is told of a clergyman who in his Sunday
prayer recounted the life of his parish during
the preceding week, making personal mention
of its actors ; who then passed, still praying,
from local history to the welfare of the nation,
including a tribute to Washington and a de-
scription of a battle ; and who did not end his
hour-long prayer until he had anathematized
the enemy, and circled the globe for recent ex-
amples of divine wrath and benevolence. Such a
clergyman is by no means a myth. Each pastor
made his own contribution, inconspicuous or no-
table as it might be, to the broadening of thought,
and contributed his part to the development
among his people of ideas of personal liberty,
even as the colonial wars were developing confi-
dence in the ability to defend that liberty should
it be endangered. A voluntary theocracy may
uphold a faith which teaches that only a very

310 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

limited number are of the " elect," but, under
tlie ordinary conditions of life, such a belief is
discouraging, deadening, and as men threw off
this idea of spiritual bondage, they advanced to
a larger conception of personal responsibility,
dignity, and freedom. Such enlargement of ideas
necessitated a mutual tolerance of diverse opin-
ions. It also tended to create revolt against in-
fractions of civil liberty or violations of political
justice. The colonists were not so badly taxed
— as colonial policy went — when they made
their stand for " no taxation without representa-
tion," when they exhausted their resources in a
long war because of acts of Parliament that, had
they submitted to them, would have offered a
precedent for still more repressive measures and
for the overthrow of the Englishman's right to
determine, through the representatives of the
people, how the people's money should be spent.
If the town-meeting, the sermon, the religious
or political pamphlet, and the newspaper did
each its part in developing a people, there was
also another factor that, starting as part of a
discussion of ecclesiastical polity, brought before
all men important questions of civil, political,
and personal liberty, and of constitutional rights.
However unnecessary the severe anguish of Jona-
than Mayhew's spirit, due to his exaggerated

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 311

fear of the American episcopate, he did but
express " the sincere thought of a multitude of
his most rational contemporaries." 149 A review
of events will show some reason for the antago-
nism and horror that filled New England when
the project of the episcopate was revived. After
the death of Queen Anne in 1714, the Crown took
no interest in the project of an American epis-
copate until Thomas Sherlock became Bishop of
London in 1748. The Connecticut clergy of the
Church of England, together with others of
New England and the Middle colonies, had, how-
ever, never ceased their efforts to secure an
American bishop ; and now, in Bishop Sherlock,
their Metropolitan in London, they had one
who firmly believed in the necessity of colonial
bishops, who deliberately refused to exercise the
traditional powers of his office, or to obtain a
legal renewal of them (in so far as they applied
to the colonies), because he had determined that
by such a policy he would force the English
government to appoint one — or preferably sev-
eral — American bishops. He defined his scheme
for the episcopate as one in which the Bishop
was : (1) to have no coercive power over the
laity, only regulative over the clergy ; (2) to
have no share in the temporal government ; (3)
to be of no expense to the colonists ; (4) and

312 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

to have no authority, except to ordain the clergy,
in any of the colonies where the government was
in the hands of dissenters from the Church of
England. This plan was essentially the same as
that advocated later by Bishops Seeker and But-
ler, and by succeeding bishops to the time of the
Revolution. Bishop Sherlock obtained the King's
permission to submit his j)lan to the English
ministers of state. So great was the dread in-
spired in America by the rumors of a revival of
active measures for a colonial episcopate, that a
deputation, sent to England in 1749, appointed
a committee of two to wait upon those nearest
to the King and to advise them that the appoint-
ment would be " highly Prejudicial to the Inter-
ests of Several of the Colonies." 150 This com-
mittee redoubled its energies in 1750, and it was
due to its watchfulness as well as to the clearer
foresight of the King's ministers that Bishop
Sherlock's plan was frustrated. The chief ad-
visers of the government objected to it on the
ground that it would be repugnant to the dis-
senting colonies, to the dissenters of all sorts in
England, and would also rouse in the home-land
party-differences that had slumbered since the
overthrow of the Pretender in 1745.

Despite the English opposition to Bishop
Sherlock's scheme, its discussion in England and

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 313

the journey of the bishop's agent through the
several American colonies to sound their senti-
ment had created so much apprehension that the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel en-
joined its missionaries, in 1753, " that they take
special care to give no offence to the civil gov-
ernment by intermeddling with affairs not relat-
ing to their calling or function." Even Bishop
Seeker of Oxford, a strong adherent of Bishop
Sherlock, saw fit, in 1754, to suppress Dr. John-
son of Stratford, Connecticut, bidding his en-
thusiasm wait until a more propitious season,
and advising him, and the rest of his clergy, to
conciliate the dissenters. Bishop Sherlock, him-
self, in 1752, withdrew sufficiently from his first
position to assume the ecclesiastical oversight of
the colonies, although he would not take out a
commission to renew that which had expired by
the death of Bishop Gibson. Meanwhile, Sher-
lock's demonstration that the Bishop of London
had little authority in law, or in fact, over the
American colonies created two parties. One°
held that the colonies were a part of the Eng-
lish nation and consequently were subject to the

a To fortify their position, this party cited various acts of
Parliament and the Act of Union, 1707, wherein Scotland is
distinctly released from subjection to the Church of England,
— an exemption, they maintained, that had never formally
been extended to the colonies.

314 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

civil and religious laws existing in the home
country, and that the authority of the Church
of England extending to the colonies had been
reinforced by the Gibson patent of 1727-28.
The other party maintained that the colonists
were not members of the Church of England,
nor subject to its rules. They quoted the Lord
Chief Justice, who declared to Governor Duni-
mer, in 1725, that " there was no regular estab-
lishment of any national or provincial church in
these plantations " (of New England), and that
Bishop Gilman, in his letter of May 24, 1735,
to Dr. Colman had written, " My opinion has
always been that the religious state of New Eng-
land is founded on an equal liberty to all Pro-
testants, none of which can claim the name of a
national establishment, or of any kind of supe-
riority over the rest." This party further main-
tained that no acts of Parliament, passed after
the founding of the colonies, were binding upon
them, unless such acts were specially extended
to the colonies. Here again was the old conten-
tion that had appeared in the earlier controversy
over the Connecticut Intestacy Act.

An American controversy, parallel in time
with the attempt to establish the episcopate,
roused the always latent New England hostil-
ity to the Episcopal church as one contrary to

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 315

gospel teaching. This controversy of 1747-51 a
broke out over the validity of Presbyterian or-
dination versus Episcopal. The battle surged
about the contingent questions of (1) whether
the Church of England extended to the colonies ;
(2) whether it was prudent for the long estab-
lished New England churches to go over to the
English communion ; and (3) whether it would
be lawful. In debating the last two, incidental
matters of expense, of unwise ecclesiastical de-
pendence, and of the consequent decay of prac-
tical godliness in the land, were discussed by the
Rev. Noah Hobart of Stratford, Conn., who re-
presented the Consociated churches, while Epis-
copacy was defended by Rev. James Wetmore of
Rye, N. Y., Dr. Johnson of Stratford, Conn.,
Rev. John Beach of Reading, Conn., and by the
Rev. Henry Caner of Boston.

This discussion at once suggested to a few
far-sighted men that the bishops recently pro-
posed, and which at the end of the Seven Years'
War, in 1763, were again earnestly advocated by
Bishop Seeker (who had become Archbishop of
Canterbury) should not acquire any powers in
addition to those suggested by Bishop Sherlock.

a On January 30, 1750, Jonathan Mayhew preached a force-
ful sermon upon the danger of being " unmercifully priest-
ridden."

316 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

The growing fear of such increased authority
flamed out again in the May hew controversy of
1763-65, when all the inherited Puritan dislike
to the Church of England as a religious body,
and all the terror of such a hierarchy, as a part
of the English state, hurled itself into argument,
and threw to the front the discussion of the
American episcopate as a measure of English
policy, — an attempt to transplant the Church as
an arm of the State ; an attempt to " episcopize,"
to proselyte the colonies, and eventually to over-
turn the New England ecclesiastical and civil gov-
ernments." " It was known," wrote John Adams
fifty years later, " that neither the king nor min-
istry nor archbishop could appoint bishops in

a Rev. East Apthorpe, S. P. G. missionary at Cambridge,
Mass., had replied to a newspaper criticism upon the policy of
the Society for Propagating the Gospel in New England, in his
Considerations on the Institutions and Conduct of the Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Jonathan May-
hew published in answer his Observations on the Character and
Conduct of the Society, censuring the Society not only for in-
truding itself into New England, but for being the champion
of the proposed episcopate, which he denounced. This was in
1763. For two years the controversy raged. There were four
replies to Mayhew. Two were unimportant, a third presum-
ably from Rev. Henry Caner, and the fourth, Answer to the
Observations, an anonymous English production, really by
Archbishop Seeker. Mayhew wrote a Defense, and Apthorpe
summed up the whole controversy in his Review. — A. L. Cross,
Anglican Episcopate, p. 145 et seq. ; footnote 1, p. 147.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 317

America without Act of Parliament, and if Par-
liament could tax us, it could establish the
Church of England with all its creeds, articles,
ceremonies, and prohibit all other churches as
conventicles and schism-shops." ° Therefore,
when England declared her right to tax the col-
onies, and followed it by Sugar Act and Stamp
Act, the political situation threw a lurid light
about the Chandler-Chauncy controversy b of
1767-71 as it rehearsed the pros and cons of
the proposed episcopate. The New England
colonies were greatly excited, and others shared
the unrest, for, even where the Church of Eng-
land was strongest, the laity as a body preferred
the greater freedom accorded them under com-
missaries as sub-officers of the Bishop of London.
The indifference of the American laity as a
whole to the project of the episcopate; the im-
potence of the English bishop to attain it,
thwarted as he was by the threefold opposition
of the ministry, the colonial agents, and the

a John Adams's Works, x, 288.

b Dr. Charles Chauncy attacked the S. P. G. as endeavor-
ing to increase their power, not to proselytize among the
Indians, but to episcopize the colonists. Dr. Chandler, of Eliza-
bethtown, N. J., replied in An Appeal to the Public. Chauncy
retorted with The Appeal Answered, and Chandler with The
Appeal Defended. The newspapers of 1768-69 took up the
controversy.

318 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

great body of English dissenters, did not lessen
the prevailing suspicion and fear among the col-
onists, especially among those of New England.
They felt no confidence in the profession a that
authority purely ecclesiastical would alone be
accorded to the bishop, or that American church-
men themselves would long be satisfied with a
bishopric so shorn of power. And already, on
November 1, 1766, the Episcopalians of New
York, New Jersey, and Connecticut had met to-
gether in their first annual convention at Eliza-
bethtown.6 The avowed object of their conference
was the defense of the liberties of the Church of
England, and " to diffuse union and harmony,
and to keep up a correspondence throughout the
united body and with their friends abroad." 151

It was a time of drawing together, whether of
the colonies as political bodies, or of their people
as groups of individuals affiliating with simi-
lar groups beyond the local boundaries. Upon
November 5, 1766, also at Elizabethtown, the

a In 1767, Dr. Johnson in a letter to Governor Trumbull as-
sured him that "It is not intended, at present, to send any
Bishops into the American Colonies, . . . and should it be
done at all, you may be assured that it will be done in such
manner as in no degree to prejudice, nor if possible even give
the least offense to any denomination of Protestants." — E. E.
Beardsley, Hist, of the Epis. Church in Conn., i, 265.

b There were nine clergymen from Connecticut, and twenty-
five from New York and vicinity.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 319

Consociatecl Churches of Connecticut had united
with the Presbyterian Synod of New York and
Philadelphia in their first annual convention,
which was composed of Presbyterian delegates to
the Synod and of representatives from the Asso-
ciations in Connecticut. While the general object
was the promotion of Christian friendship be-
tween the two religious bodies, the spread of
the gospel, and the preservation of the liberties
of their respective churches, the conventions of
1769-75 determined to prosecute measures for
preserving these same liberties, threatened " by
the attempt made by the friends of Episcopacy
in the Colonies and Great Britain, for the estab-
lishment of Diocesan Bishops in America." 152
Accordingly this representative body at once en-
tered into correspondence with the Committee of
Dissenters in England. In recalling these move-
ments towards combination, one remembers that,
among the dissenters, the Quakers had long held
to their system of Monthly, Quarterly, and An-
nual Meetings, to their correspondence with the
London Annual Meeting, and to the frequent
interchange of traveling preachers. In the years
1767-69, the scattered Baptists of New Eng-
land had united in the Warren (Rhode Island)
Association. It was a council for advice only, yet
its approval lent multiple weight to the influence

320 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

of any Baptist preacher. It urged the collection
of all authentic reports of oppression or per-
secution, and a firm, united resistance on the part
of the weaker churches.0 The founding of Brown
University, Rhode Island, as a Baptist College
in 1764, gave the sect prestige by marking their
approval of education and of a " learned min-
istry."

To return to the subject of the episcopate,
the Chandler controversy had been precipitated
by Dr. Johnson of Connecticut, who, at the
Elizabeth convention, urged that the opposition
to the American bishops was largely caused by
ignorance concerning their proposed powers and
office, and that if some one would put the scheme
more fully before the people, they might be won
over. The task was assigned to Thomas Brad-
bury Chandler, who published his " An Appeal
to the Public," 1767. Dr. Charles Chauncy of
Boston replied to Chandler, giving the New Eng-
land view of bishops in "The Appeal Answered."
Chandler, as has been said, retorted with his
"The Appeal Defended," and the newspapers
took up the controversy. The discussion turned

a The Association had sent petitions in hehalf of the Bap-
tists to the legislatures of Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Both were refused. For its Circular Letter of 1776, see
Hovey'a Life of Backus, p. 289 ; also p. 155.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 321

immediately and almost entirely from the eccle-
siastical aspect, with its dangers to New England
church-life, to the political and constitutional
phases of this proposed extension of the Church
of England. The New York and Philadelphia
press agitated the subject in 1768-69, while all
New England echoed Mayhew's earlier denun-
ciations of the evils to be anticipated. In the
pulpit, by the study fire, and at the tavern-
bar, leaders, scholars, people discussed the pos-
sible loss of civil and personal liberty. Let the
bishops once be seated, and would they not intro-
duce ecclesiastical courts, demand uniformity,
and impose a general tax for their church which
might be perverted to any use that the whim of
the King and of his subservient bishops might
propose? There is no question that this sub-
ject of the episcopate, with its political and con-
stitutional phases, and with the considerations of
personal and civil liberty involved, did much to
familiarize the people with those principles upon
which they made their final break with England,
and helped to prepare their minds for the sepa-
ration from the mother country.

In considering the various elements that con-
tributed to the development of the national
spirit, to the destruction of that provincialism
so marked hi the colonies before 1750, and to

322 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

the creation in each of breadth of thought and
clearness of vision, trade and commerce had
their part. Because of them, came increasing
knowledge of the widely different habits of life
in the thirteen colonies. It came also from the
association of the people of the different sections
when as soldiers of their King they were sum-
moned to the various wars. Still another impe-
tus was given to the national idea by the fashion
of long, elaborate correspondence. Especially
was this true after the Albany convention of
1754, called to discuss Franklin's Plan of Union,
had introduced men of like minds, abilities, and
purpose, and also the needs of their respective
sections, and had interested them in the common
welfare of all. Moreover, Franklin was the
highest representative of still another move-
ment that roused the slumbering intelligence of
men by opening their minds to impressions from
the vast and unexplored world of natural science.
He founded, in 1743, the University of Penn-
sylvania and the American Philosophical Society.
The recognition, in 1753,° of his work by Euro-

a This year the Royal Society awarded him the Copley
medal for his discovery that lightning was a discharge of
electricity.

In 170 1 the medal of the Royal Society was also awarded
to the Rev. Jared Eliot of Killingworth, Conn., for making
iron aud steel from black ferruginous sand.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 323

pean scholars was an honor in which every Amer-
ican took pride as marking the entrance of the
colonies into the world of scientific investigation.
Such honorable recognition produced a wide-
spread interest in the study of the physical world
and its forces. Following this awakening and
broadening of the intellectual life, there came,
at the very dawn of the Re volution, the first out-
cropping of genuine American literature in the
satires and poems of Philip Freneau of New
York, a graduate of Princeton, and in those of
John Trumbull and Joel Barlow a of Yale. New
Haven became a centre of literary life, and the
cultivation of literature took its place beside that
of the classics, broadening the preeminently
ministerial groove of the Yale curriculum.

In considering some of the individual acts lead-
ing up to Connecticut's part in the Revolution,
we find that the colony had disapproved Frank-
lin's Plan of Union of 1754. She thought it
lacking in efficiency and in dispatch in emergen-

° John Trumbull, b. 1750, d. in Michigan, 1831 ; Joel Bar-
low, b. 1754, d. in Poland, 1812 ; Gen. David Humphreys, b.
1752, d. in New Haven, 1818. These Yale men, together with
Dr. Lemuel Hopkins, were the leading spirits in the club
known as "The Hartford Wits." Dr. Dwight was a fellow
collegian with them. Trumbull and Dwight did much to in-
terest the students in literature. The latter was also tutor in
rhetoric and professor of belles-lettres and oratory.

324 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

eies, and possibly dangerous to the liberties of
the colonies. She also believed it liable to plunge
the colonies into heavy expense, when many of
them were already floundering in debt. Yet Con-
necticut had, with Massachusetts, willingly borne
the brunt of expense and loss necessary to protect
the colonies in the wars arising from French and
English claims. She, accordingly, greatly rejoiced
at the Peace of Kyswick, 1763, for it gave se-
curity to her borders by the cession of Canada to
England, brought safety to commerce and the
fisheries, and promised a new era of prosperity.
The attempt of England to recoup herself for
the expenses of the war by a rigid enforcement
of the Navigation Laws — an enforcement that
paralyzed commerce, and turned the open evasion
of honorable merchantmen into the treasonable
acts of smugglers — grieved Connecticut ; the
Sugar Act provoked her, and the proposed Stamp
Act drove her to remonstrance. Her magis-
trates issued the dignified and spirited address,
" Reasons why the British Colonies in America
should not be charged with Internal Taxes by
Authority of Parliament." ° It was firmly be-
lieved in the colony that when the severity of

a Conn. Col. Rec. xii, Appendix. This was drawn up by the
Governor and three members of the General Assembly, May,
1764.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 325

the English acts should be demonstrated, they
would at once be removed and some substitute,
such as the proposed tax on slaves or on the fur
trade, would be adopted. Jared Ingersoll, the
future stamp-officer, carried the address to Eng-
land. There it received praise as an able and
temperate state-paper. Ingersoll is credited with
having succeeded in slightly modifying the Stamp
Act and in postponing somewhat the date for its
going into effect. Having done what he could
to modify the measure, and not appreciating the
growth of opposition to it during his absence, he
accepted the office of Stamp-Distributer, and re-
turned to America, where he was straightway
undeceived as to the desirability of his office, but
made his way from Boston to Connecticut, hoping
for better things. On reaching New Haven, he
was remonstrated with for accepting his office and
urged to give it up. But learning that Governor
Fitch, after mature deliberation, had resolved to
take the oath to support the Stamp Act, and had
done so, though seven of his eleven Councilors,
summoned for the ceremony, had refused to wit-
ness the oath, Ingersoll decided to push on to
Hartford. Starting alone and on horseback, he
rode unmolested through the woods ; but as he
journeyed through the villages, group after group
of stern-looking men, bearing in their hands

326 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

sticks peeled bare of bark so as to resemble the
staves carried by constables, silently joined him,
and, later, soldiers and a troop of horse. Thus
he was escorted into Wethersfleld, where, vir-
tually a prisoner, he was made to resign his
commission. The cavalcade, ever increasing, pro-
ceeded with him to Hartford,a where he publicly
proclaimed his resignation and signed a paper to
that effect. Everywhere the towns burned him
in effigy. Everywhere the spirit of indignation
and of opposition spread. The " Norwich
Packet " discussed the favored East Indian mo-
nopolies and the Declaratory and Revenue Acts
of Parliament. The " Connecticut Courant "
(founded in Hartford in 1764), the " Connect-
icut Gazette," the " Connecticut Journal and
New Haven Post-Bo}V b and the " New London
Gazette " encouraged the spirit of resistance.
A Norwich minister 153 preached from the text
" Touch not mine anointed," referring to the
people as the " anointed " and arguing that
kings, through Acts of Parliament which take
away, infringe, or violate civil rights, touch the
"anointed" people in a way forbidden by God.

a With grim humor, he turned to one of his escort, saying
that he at last realized the description in Revelation of " Death
riding a white horse and hell following- behind."

b The latter half of the title was omitted about 1775.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 327

This Norwich minister was not alone among the
clergy, for the sermons of the three sects, Bap-
tist, Separatist, and Congregational, " connected
with one indissoluble bond the principles of civil
Government and the principles of Christianity."
The laity of the Episcopal church were, as a body,
patriots, and so, also, were many of their clergy ;
but party spirit, roused by the discussion of the
episcopate and of their relation to the King, as
head of their church as well as head of the State,
tended to Toryism. From their pulpits was more
frequently heard the doctrine of passive obedi-
ence. But in all the opposition to the Stamp Act,
in all the preparations for resistance, in the carry-
ing out of non-importation agreements, in the
movement that created small factories and home
industries to supply the lack of English imports,
and later during the struggle for independence,
the Connecticut colonists, whether Congregation-
alists, patriotic Episcopalians, Baptists, or Sepa-
ratists, worked as one.

Toward the Separatists, oppressed dissenters
yet loyal patriots, there began to be the feeling
that some legislative favor should be shown. Ac-
cordingly the Assembly, having them in mind,
in 1770 passed the law that —

no person in this Colony, professing the Christian
protestant religion, who soberly and conscientiously

328 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

dissent from the worship and ministry established or
approved by the laws of this Colony and attend pub-
lic worship by themselves, shall incur any of the pen-
alties . . . for not attending the worship and ministry
so established on the Lord's day or on account of their
meeting together by themselves on said day for the
public worship of God in a way agreeable to their
consciences.

And in October of the same year, it was fur-
ther decreed that —

all ministers of the gospel that now are or hereafter
shall be settled in this Colony, during their continu-
ance in the ministry, shall have all their estates
lying in the same society as well as in the same town
wherein they dwell exempted out of the lists of polls
and rateable estates.164

But for the Separatists to obtain exemption
from ecclesiastical taxes for the benefit of the
Establishment required seven more years of argu-
ment and appeal. During the time, they and
the Baptists continued to increase in favor. The
Separatist, Isaac Holly, preached and printed
a sermon upholding the Boston tea-party. The
Baptists were so patriotic as to later win from
Washington his " I recollect with satisfaction
that the religious society of which you are mem-
bers have been throughout America uniformly
and almost unanimously the firm friends of civil

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 329

liberty, and the persevering promoters of our
glorious revolution." 155 In 1774, good-will was
shown to the Suffield Baptists by a favorable
answer to their memorial to be relieved from
illegal fines. In behalf of these Baptists, Gov-
ernor Trumbull frequently exerted his influence.
He also wrote to those of New Roxbury, who were
in distress as to whether they had complied with
the law, assuring them that the act of 1770 had
done away with the older requirement of a special
application to the General Assembly for permis-
sion to unite in church estate.156 Notwithstanding
such favor, there was still so much injustice that
the Baptists of Stamford wrote, during the rapid
increase of the sect through the local revivals of
1771-74, that the emigration from Connecticut
of Baptists was because " the maxims of the
land do not well suit the genius of our Order,
and beside, the country is so fully settled, as pop-
ulation increases, the surplusage must go abroad
for settlements."

Among the Baptists, the most vigorous cham-
pion for mutual toleration and for liberty of
conscience was Isaac Backus, " the father of
American Baptists," and their first historian. In
An Appeal to the Public for Heligious Liberty,
Boston, 1773, after calling attention to the lack
of state provision in Massachusetts as well as in

330 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Connecticut for ecclesiastical prisoners,157 he
thus defines the limits of spiritual and temporal
power : —

And it appears to us that the true difference and
exact limits between ecclesiastical and civil govern-
ment is this. That the church is armed with light
and truth, to pull down the strongholds of iniquity
and to gain souls to Christ and into his church to be
governed by his rules therein ; and again to exclude
such from their communion who will not be so gov-
erned ; while the state is armed with the sword to
guard the peace and to punish those who violate the
same. Where they have been confounded together
no tongue nor pen can fully describe the mischiefs
that have ensued.158

He proceeds to argue that every one has an
equal right to choose his religion, since each one
must answer at God's judgment seat for his own
choice and his life's acts. Consequently, there
is no warrant for the making of religious laws
and the laying of ecclesiastical taxes. With this
premise, it followed that the Baptist exemption
act of 1729 was defective and unjust, in that it
demanded certificates ; and from this time there
began a steadily increasing opposition to the
giving of these papers. Backus objected to the
certificates upon several grounds, chief of which
were : —

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 331

(1) Because the very nature of such a practice im-
plies an acknowledgement that the civil power has
right to set one religious sect up above another. . . ,
It is a tacit allowance that they have the right to make
laws about such things which we believe in our own
conscience they have not.

(2) The scheme we oppose tends to destroy the
purity and life of religion.

(3) The custom which they want us to countenance
is very hurtful to civil society. . . . What a temptation
then does it not lay for men to contract guilt when
temporal advantages are annexed to one persuasion
and disadvantages laid upon another? i. e., in plain
terms, how does it tend to lying hypocrisy and
lying ? 159

In all his writings this man pleads the cause
of religious liberty, and, whenever possible, he
emphasizes the likeness of the struggle of the
dissenters for freedom of conscience to that of
the colonists for civil liberty, and argues the in-
justice of wresting thousands of dollars from the
Baptists for the support of a religion to them
distasteful, while they exert themselves to the
utmost to win political freedom for all ; " with
what heart can we support the struggle ? "

Two remarkable little books of some eighty
or ninety pages that were issued from the Boston
press in 1772 require a word of notice because
of their hearty welcome. Two editions were called

332 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

for within the year, and more than a thousand
copies of the second were bespoken before it went
to press. They had originally been put forth, the
first in 1707, "The Churches Quarrel Espoused :
or a Reply In Satyre to certain Proposals made,
etc." (the Massachusetts "Proposals of 1705 "),
and the second in 1717, "A Vindication of the
Government of the New England Churches,
Drawn from Antiquity ; Light of Nature ; Holy
Scripture ; the Noble Nature ; and from the Dig-
nity Divine Providence has put upon it." In 1772
their author, the Rev. John Wise, a former
pastor of the church in Ipswich, Massachusetts,
had been dead for over forty years. In his day,
he had regarded the " Proposals " as treasonable
to the ancient polity of Congregationalism, and
had attacked what he considered their assump-
tions, absurdities, and inherent tyranny. His
books were forceful in their own day, serving the
churches, persuading those of Massachusetts to
hold to the more democratic system of the Cam-
bridge Platform, and largely affecting the char-
acter of the later polity of the New England
churches. The suffering colonist of 1772, smart-
ing under English misrule, turned to the vigor-
ous, clear, and convincing pages wherein John
Wise set forth the natural rights of men, the
quality of political obligation, the relative merits

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 333

of government, whether monarchies, aristocracies,
or democracies, and the well developed concept
that civil government should be founded upon a
belief in human equality. In his second attempt
to defend the Cambridge Platform, Wise had
advanced to the proposition that " Democracy is
Christ's government in Church and State." 160

Such expositions as these, and those in Isaac
Backus's " The Exact Limits between Civil and
Ecclesiastical Government," published in 1777,
and in his " Government and Liberty described,"
of 1778, together with the discussion prevalent
at the time, and with the logic of the Revolution-
ary events, opened the mind of the people to a
clearer conception of liberty of conscience, though
their practical application of the notion was de-
ferred. For many years longer, persons had to
be content with a toleration that was of itself a
contradiction to religious liberty. Yet in May,
1777, such toleration was broadened by the "Act
for exempting those Persons in this State, com-
monly styled Separates from Taxes for the Sup-
port of the established Ministry and building and
repairing Meeting Houses," on condition that
they should annually lodge with the clerk of the
Established Society, wherein they lived, a certifi-
cate, vouching for their attendance upon and sup-
port of their own form of worship. Said certificate

334 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

was to be signed by the minister, elder, or deacon
of the church which " they ordinarily did at-
tend." 161

Israel Holly's " An Appeal to the Impartial,
or the Censured Memorial made Public, that it
may speak for itself. To which is added a few
Brief Remarks upon a Late Act of the General
Assembly of the State of Connecticut, entitled
an ' Act for Exempting those Persons in this
State Commonly styled Separates, from Taxes for
the Support of the Established Ministry &c.' "
gave in full an " Appeal " of eleven Separatist
churches to the General Assembly in May, 1770.
That body would not suffer the petition to be
read through, stopping the reader in the midst,
while some of its members went so far as to de-
clare that " all, who had signed it, ought to be
sent for to make answer to the Court for their
action." But the majority of the legislature were
not so intolerant, so that during the session the
act above mentioned was passed. Holly, in his
book, includes with the " Appeal " a severe criti-
cism of the new law, and, in quoting the petition,
he gives a full explanation of its text as well
as the comments of the Assembly upon it and
their objections to parts of it. When recounting
the long struggle for toleration and in detail the
persecutions of the Suffield Separatists, Holly

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 335

dwells upon the fact that before the recent legis-
lation of the Assembly, the spirit of fair dealing
had in some communities influenced the members
of the Establishment in their treatment of the
Separatists. Holly also enlarges upon the incon-
sistency between demanding freedom in temporal
affairs from Great Britain and refusing it in
spiritual ones to fellow-citizens. The " Censured
Memorial " closes 162 with an expressed determi-
nation on the part of the Separatists to appeal to
the Continental Congress if the state continue
to refuse to do them justice. Holly, remarking
upon the act of 1777, expresses great dissatisfac-
tion with it as falling short of the liberty desired,
and, particularly, with its retention of the certif-
icate clause.

Such continued agitation of the rights of indi-
viduals and of churches eventually created a
broader public opinion, one that, permeating the
Establishment itself, tended to make its minis-
ters resent any great exercise of authority on
the part of those among them who clung to the
strong Presbyterian construction of the Say-
brook Articles. Communications upon the sub-
ject of religious liberty were to be found in many
of the newspapers. Two governors of Connecti-
cut wrote pamphlets that tended to weaken the
hold of the Saybrook Platform over the people.

336 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Governor Wolcott in 1761 wrote against it, and in
1765 Governor Fitch (anonymously) explained
away its authoritative interpretation. The term
"Presbyterian" came to be applied more fre-
quently to the conservative churches of the
Establishment, and " Congregational " to those
wherein the New Light ideas prevailed. Some
years later, while the two terms were still used
interchangeably, the term "Congregational" rose
in favor, and, after the Revolution, included even
the few Separatist churches. As for the latter,
they had by 1770 concluded that with reference
" to our Baptist brethren we are free to hold
occasional communion with such as are regular
churches and . . . make the Christian profes-
sion and acknowledge us to be baptized." 163 For
some years these two religious parties attempted
to unite in associations, but finding that they
disagreed too much on the question of baptism,
they mutually decided to give up the attempt,
and separated with the greatest respect and good
will toward each other. In 1783, the Presby-
terians refused to meet the Separatists in the
attempt to devise some plan of union between
them, but did advance to the concession "to
admit Separatists to Ordination with the great-
est care." m The Presbyterians were beginning
to realize that if the Saybrook Platform was to

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 337

govern the churches of the Establishment, its
old judicial interpretation must give way. An
example of the revolt to be anticipated, if such
interpretation were insisted upon, followed the
attempt by the Consociation of Windham in
1780 to discipline Isaac Foster, a Presbyterian
minister, for " sundry doctrines looked upon as
dangerous and contrary to the gospel ; " a and
a similar attempt to reprove Mr. Sage of West
Simsbury drew forth such stirring retorts from
Isaac Foster and from Dan Foster, minister of
Windsor (who defended Mr. Sage), that church
after church promptly renounced the Saybrook
Platform. These churches agreed with Isaac
Foster in his declaration of the absolute inde-
pendence of each church and that —

no clergyman or number of clergymen or ecclesi-
astical council of whatever denomination have right
to make religious creeds, canons or articles of faith
and impose them upon any man or church on earth
requiring subscription to them. ... A church should
be the sole judge of its pastor's teachings so long as
he teaches nothing expressly contrary to the Bible.

a Foster replied : " One man is not to be called a ' here-
tick,' purely because he differs from another, as to the arti-
cles of faith. For either we should all be ' hereticks ' or there
would be no ' heresy ' among1 us. . . . Heresy does not consist
in opinion or sentiments : it is not an error of head but of
will." — Foster, A Defense of Religious Liberty, p. 47.

338 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

. . . The Consociation has no right to pretend that
it is a divinely instituted assembly with the Say-
brook Platform for its charter, imposing a tyranny
more intolerable on the people than that from which
they are trying to free themselves. 166

The result of all this agitation for liberty of
conscience, emphasized by its counterpart in the
political life of the state and nation, was that in
the first edition of the " Laws and Acts of the
State of Connecticut in America," ° appearing in
1784, all reference to the Saybrook Platform
was omitted, and all ecclesiastical laws were
grouped under the three heads entitled Rights of
Conscience, Regulations of Societies, and the
Observation of the Sabbath.166 Under the Sun-
day laws, together with numerous negative com-
mands, was the positive one that every one, who,
for any trivial reason, absented himself from
public worship on the Lord's day should pay a
fine of three shillings, or fifty cents. The society
regulations remained much the same, with the
added privilege that to all religions bodies recog-
nized by law permission was given to manage
their temporal affairs as freely as did the churches
of the Establishment. Dissenters were even per-
mitted to join themselves to religious societies in

a This revision of the laws was in charge of Roger Sherman
and liichard Law.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 339

adjoining states,0 provided the place of worship
was not too far distant for the Connecticut mem-
bers to regularly attend services. To these terms
of toleration was affixed the sole condition of
presenting a certificate of membership signed by
an officer of the church of which the dissenter
was a member, and that the certificate should be
lodged with the clerk of the Established society
wherein the dissenter dwelt. While legislation
still favored the Establishment, toleration was
extended with more honesty and with better
grace. All strangers coming into the state were
allowed a choice of religious denominations, but
while undecided were to pay taxes to the society
lowest on the list. Choice was also given for
twelve months to resident minors upon their
coming of age, and also to widows. In any ques-
tion, or doubt, the society to which the father,
husband, or head of the household belonged, or
had belonged, determined the church home of
members of the household unless the certificates
of all dissentitig members were on file. If per-
sons were undecided when the time of choice had
elapsed, and they had not presented certificates,
they were counted members of the Establish-
ment. Thus the Saybrook Platform, no longer

a Quakers and Baptists frequently crossed the state line to
attend services in Rhode Island.

340 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

appearing upon the law-book, was quietly rele-
gated to the status of a voluntarily accepted
ecclesiastical constitution which the different
churches might accept, interpreting it with only
such degrees of strictness as they chose. Conse-
quently, all Congregational and Presbyterian
churches drew together and remained intimately
associated with the government as setting forth
the form of religion it approved.

As toleration was more freely extended, op-
pression quickly ceased. The smaller and weaker
sects0 that appeared in Connecticut after 1770
received no such persecution as their predeces-
sors. Among them the Sandemanians 6 appeared
about 1766, and from the first created consid-
erable interest. The Shakers were permitted
to form a settlement at Enfield in 1780. The
Universalists began making converts among the

a There was only an occasional Romanist ; Unitarians first
took their sectarian name in 1815 ; Universalists were few in
number until the second quarter of the new century.

b This sect received its name from Rohfert Sandeman, the
son-in-law of its founder, the Rev. John Glass of Scotland.
Sandeman published their doctrines about 1757. In 1764, he
left Scotland and came to America, where he began making-
converts near Boston, in other parts of New England, and in
Nova Scotia. He died at Danbury, Connecticut, 1771. The
members of the sect are called Glassites in Scotland, where
tin Rev. John Glass labored. He died there in 1773. See W.
"Walker, in A)iurican Hist. Assoc. Annual Report, 1901, vol. i.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 341

Separatist churches of Norwich as early as 1772.
The year 1784 saw the organization of the New
London Seventh-day Baptist church, the first of
its kind in Connecticut.

The abrogation of the Saybrook Platform was
implied, not expressed, by dropping it out of
the revised laws of 1784. The force of custom,
not the repeal of the act of establishment, an-
nulled it. As in the revision of 1750, certain
outgrown statutes were quietly sloughed off.
After the abrogation of the Saybrook system,
the orthodox dissenters felt most keenly the hu-
miliation of giving the required certificates, and
the favoritism shown by the government towards
Presbyterian or Congregational churches. This
favoritism did not confine itself to ecclesiastical
affairs, but showed itself by the government's
preference for members of the Establishment in
all civil, judicial, and military offices. If immedi-
ately after the Revolution this favoritism was
not so marked, it quickly developed out of all
proportion to justice among fellow-citizens.

CHAPTER XII

CONNECTICUT AT THE CLOSE OF THE REVOLU-
TION

The piping times of peace.

During the fifteen years following the ratifica-
tion of the Constitution of the United States by
Connecticut, January 9, 1788, no conspicuous
events mark her history. These years were for
the most part years of quiet growth and of
expansion in all directions, and, because of this
steady advancement, she was soon known as " the
land of steady habits " and of general prosperity.
Even in the dark days of the Revolution, Con-
necticut's energetic people had continued to pop-
ulate her waste places, and had carved out new
towns from old townships, — for the last of the
original plats had been marked off in 1763. In
1779-80, the state laid out five towns ; from
1784 to 1787, twenty-one, — twelve of them in
one year, 1786.° Tolland County was divided
off in 1786 as Windham had been in 1726,

° Five towns were laid out in 1785 ; from 1784 to 1787,
twenty-one in all ; from 1787 to 1800, ten; and from 1800 to
1818, eleven. — Hollister, Hist, of Connecticut, pp. 409-70.

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 343

Litchfield in 1751, and Middlesex in 1765.
These, with the four original counties of Fair-
field, New Haven, Hartford, and New London,
made the present eight counties of the state.
The cities of Hartford, New Haven, New Lon-
don, Middletown, and Norwich were incorporated
in 1784. They were scarcely more than villages
of to-day, for New Haven approximated 3,000
inhabitants, and Hartford, as late as 1810, only
4,000. The Litchfield of the post-Revolutionary
days, ranking, as a trade-centre, fourth in the
state, was as familiar with Indians in her streets
as the Milwaukee of the late fifties, and " out
west " was no farther in miles than the Connect-
icut Reserve of 3,800,000 acres in Ohio which,
in 1786, the state had reserved, when ceding her
western lands to the new nation. Thither emi-
gration was turning, since its check on the Sus-
quehanna and Delaware by the award, in 1782,
to Pennsylvania of the contested jurisdiction
over those lands, and of the little town of West-
moreland, which the Yankees had built there.a

a Of the seven hundred members of the Susquehanna Land
Company, formed in 1754, six hundred and thirty-eight were
Connecticut men. A summer settlement was made on the
Delaware in 1757 and on the Susquehanna in 1762. The first
permanent settlement was in 1769. At the close of the Revo-
lution, renewed attempts to colonize resulted in a reign of
lawlessness and bloodshed.

344 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

After the decision new settlements were dis-
couraged by the. bitter feuds between the Con-
necticut and Pennsylvanian claimants to the
land.

The Revolution had left Connecticut ex-
hausted in men and in means. Her largest
seaboard towns had suffered severely. With her
commerce and coasting trade almost destroyed,
she found herself, during the period preceding
the adoption of the national Constitution and the
establishment of the revenue system, a prey to
New York's need on the one hand and to Massa-
chusetts' sense of impoverishment on the other;
and thus, for every article imported through
either state, Connecticut paid an impost tax. It
was estimated that she thus provided one third
of the cost of government for each of her neigh-
bors. Consequently she attempted to reinstate
and to enlarge her early though limited com-
merce, and was soon sending cargoes, preemi-
nently of the field and pasture," to exchange for
West India commodities, while with her larger
vessels she developed an East Indian trade. As
another means to wealth, the state, in 1791,

a Horses, cattle, beef, pork, staves, flour, grain. During the
European wars, the United States exported foodstuffs in great
quantities, to feed both French and English armies, amounting
to over 100,000 men.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 345

passed laws for the encouragement of the small
factories0 that the necessity of the war had
created ; but it was not until after the act of
1833, creating the joint-stock companies, that
Connecticut turned from a purely agricultural
community to the great manufacturing state we
know to-day. She shared in the national pros-
perity, which, as early as 1792, proved the wisdom
of Hamilton's financial policy, and about 1795
her citizens wisely bent themselves to the improve-
ment of internal communication. This was the era
of the development of the turnpike and of the
multiplicity of stage-lines. Regular stages plied
between the larger cities. Yet up to 1789 there
was not a post-office or a mail route in Litchfield
county, and the " Monitor " was started as a
weekly paper to circulate the news. In 1790 Litch-
field had a fortnightly carrier to New York and
a weekly one to Hartford, while communication

a President Stiles was interested in silk culture and in the
manufacture of silk. His commencement gown in 1789 was of
Connecticut make. Through the efforts of General Humphreys
(1784-94) attempts were made to introduce the Spanish merino
sheep and to establish factories for fine broadcloth. Iron
works were set up in different parts of the state. The earliest
cotton factories centred about Pomfret. Clocks, watches,
cut shingle-nails, paper, stone, and earthenware pottery, were
among the manufactures started in Norwalk between 1767
and 1773, while in Windham, hosiery, silk and tacks were
manufactured.

346 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

with the second capital a of the state was frequent.
From 1800, there was a daily stage to Hart-
ford, New Haven, Norwalk, Poughkeepsie, and
Albany.167 Wagons and carriages began to mul-
tiply and to replace saddle-bags and pillions, yet
as late as 1815 Litchfield town had only " one
phaeton, one coachee, and forty-six two-wheeled
pleasure-wagons." 168

Towns continued to commend and encourage
good public schools. Every town or parish of
seventy families had to keep school eleven months
of the year, and those of less population for at
least six months. Private schools and academies
sprang up.6 Harvard and Yale, as the best
equipped of the New England colleges, competed

a In 1701 the General Court enacted that the May session of
the Legislature should be held at New Haven, and the October
one at Hartford. This was a concession to the former sover-
eignty of the New Haven Colony. The arrangement continued
until 1873. The biennial sessions, introduced by the constitu-
tion of 1818, alternated between the two capitols.

6 " Mr. Dwight is enlarging his School to comprehend the
Ladies, . . . promising to carry them through a course of
belles Lettres, Geography, Philosophy, and Astronomy. The
spirit for Academy making is vigorous." — Stiles Diary, iii,
247.

Of the academies, the more famous were Lebanon, Plain-
field, Greenfield (under Dr. Dwight), Norwich, Windham,
Waterbury (for both sexes), and Stratfield from 1788 to 1786.
There was also a second school in Norwich from 1783 to 1780.
See Stiles Diary, iii, 248.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 347

for its young men, and drew others from the
central and southern sections of the nation.
Neither had either Divinity or Law School.0
Young men after completing their college course
usually went to some famous minister for gradu-
ate training. Rev. Joseph Bellamy, John Smalley,
and Jonathan Edwards, Junior, were the fore-
most teachers in Connecticut, though the first-
named had ceased his active work in 1787.6 The
New Divinity was very slowly spreading. Even
as late as 1792, President Stiles of Yale declared
that none of the churches had accepted it.c This

a Harvard Divinity School was established 1815 ; Yale. 1822.
Previously both universities had each a professor of divinity.

b " For three years and three months before his [Bellamy's]
death he was disabled by a paralytic Shock, w° impaired his
Intellect as well as debilitated his Body. Few were equal to
him in the Desk & he was Communicative and instructive in
Conversation upon religious Subjects." The passage closes
with the prophecy, " His numerous noisy Writings have blazed
their day, and one Generation more will put them to sleep." —
Stiles Diary, March 16, 1790 (on hearing the news of Bellamy's
death). See vol. iii, pp. 384-385. See Trumbull, ii, 159, for a
more favorable opinion.

c Referring to the successor of Dr. Wales in the Yale chair
of divinity, Pres. Stiles wrote, " An Old Divinity man will be
acceptable to all the Old Divy. Ministers & to all the Churches :
a New Div' man will be acceptable to all the New Divy. Min-
isters and to None of the Churches, as none of the Chhs. in New
Engl, are New Div'."— Stiles Diary, iii, 506, note (Sept. 8, 1793).
See also under date of Nov. 16, 1786, where churches are said
to take New Divinity pastors " because they can get no others,
but persons in the parish know nothing of the New Theology."

348 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

versatile minister interested himself in languages,
literatures, natural science, and in all religions,
as well as in the phases of New England theology.
He esteemed piety and sound doctrine, whether
in Old or New Divinity men, and welcomed to
his communion all of good conscience who be-
longed to any Christian Protestant sect. He was
liberal-minded and tolerant beyond the average
of his colleagues. His tolerance, however, was
more for the old Calvinistic principles in the
New Divinity, and not for its advanced features,
for which he had little regard. President Stiles
held very firmly to the belief that his ministerial
privileges and authority remained with him after
he became president of the college, although he
was no longer pastor by the election of a particu-
lar church.

The first law school in America was estab-
lished in Litchfield in 1784 by Judge Tappan
Reeve, later chief justice of Connecticut. He
associated with him in 1798 Judge James Gould.
" Judge Reeve loved law as a science and studied
it philosophically." He wished " to reduce it to
a system, for he considered it as a practical
application of moral and religious principles to
business life." His students were drilled in the
study of the Constitution of the United States
and on the current legislation in Congress. Under

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 349

Judge Gould, the common law was expounded
methodically and lucidly, as it could be only by
one who knew its principles and their underlying
reasons from a to z.m In 1789, Ephraim Kirby
of Litchfield published the first law reports ever
issued in the United States.0 Law students from
many states were attracted to the town. The
roll of the school, kept regularly only after 1798,
included over one thousand lawyers, among them
one vice-president of the United States, several
foreign ministers, five cabinet ministers,6 two
justices of the United States Supreme Court, ten
governors of states, sixteen United States sen-
ators, fifty members of Congress, forty judges of
the higher state courts, and eight chief justices
of the state.170

Among Connecticut towns, the two capitals
of the state were also literary centres, while Nor-
wich, New Haven, and New London were fast
becoming commercial ports. Middletown soon had
considerable coasting trade. Wethersfield had
vessels of her own. Even Say brook and Milford

° " Law Reports of the Superior and Supreme Courts, 1785-
1788, by E. Kirby. Just published at this office and ready
for subscribers and gentlemen disposed to purchase, for which
most kinds of country produce will be received." — Advertise-
ment in Litchfield Monitor of Apr. 13, 1789.

b Calhoun, Woodbury, Mason, Clayton, and Hubbard. Judge
Reeve retired in 1S20 ; Judge Gould in 1833.

350 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

sent a few vessels to the West and East Indies.
Farmington was a big trading centre, shipping
produce abroad and importing in vessels of her
own that sailed from Wethersfield or New Haven.
Some few towns developed a special industry,
like Berlin and New Britain, that made the Con-
necticut tin-peddler a familiar figure even in the
Middle and Southern states. There were also
several towns with large shipyards, where some
of the largest ships were built. But back of all
such centres of activity, the whole state was sol-
idly agricultural. Connecticut's commerce was
an import commerce exchanging natural prod-
ucts for foreign ones, such as sugar, coffee, and
molasses from the West Indies ; tea and luxuries
from the East ; and obtaining, either directly or
indirectly, from Europe, all the fine manufactured
products, whether stuffs for personal use or tools
for labor.

In measuring the prosperity and intelligence
of the Connecticut people neither the parish
library nor the newspaper must be overlooked.
" I am acquainted," wrote Noah Webster in 1790,
" with parishes where almost every householder
has read the works of Addison, Sherlock, Atter-
bury, Watts, Young, and other familiar writings :
and will conversely handsomely on the subjects
of which they treat." 171 " By means of the gen-

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 351

eral circulation of the public papers," wrote the
same author, "the people are informed of all
political affairs ; and their representatives are
often prepared to debate upon propositions made
in the legislature." 172

Through the agricultural communities of Con-
necticut, as well as in the towns, the weekly-
newspapers of the state began to circulate freely
as soon as carriers or mail routes were estab-
lished. Even by 1785 there was in Connecticut
a newspaper circulation of over 8000 weekly
copies, which was equal to that published in the
whole territory south of Philadelphia.173 These
papers lacked locals and leaders, leaving the
former to current gossip, and for the latter sub-
stituting, to some extent, letters and correspond-
ence. The newspapers gave foreign news three
months old, the proceedings of Congress in from
ten to twelve days after their occurrence, and
news from the Connecticut elections three weeks
late. Subjects relating to religion and politics
were heard pro and con in articles, or rather
letters, signed with grandiloquent pseudonyms
and frequently marked " Papers, please copy "
in order to secure for them a larger public.
Fantastic bits of natural science, or what pur-
ported to be such, and stilted admonitions to
virtue, as well as poems, eulogies, and obituaries,

352 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

were admitted to the columns of these colonial
papers. In 1786, the " Connecticut Courant "
apologized for its meagre reports of legis-
lative proceedings, especially of those of the
Upper House, Council, or Senate, and promised
to give full details. This reporting was a new
thing, and it was fully five years more before
the practice became general among the half dozen
papers published in Connecticut.0 Space was
also given in the papers to the reproduction of
selections, even whole chapters, from current and
popular writers. Among such letters was a series
on " the Establishment of the Worship of the
Deity essential to National Happiness." In one
of the letters, the author suggests : —

To secure the advantages . . . allow me to pro-
pose a general and equitable tax collected from all
the rateable members of a state, for the support of
the public teachers of religion, of all denominations,
within the state. . . . Let a moderate poll tax be
added to a tax of a specified sum on the pound, and
levied on all the subjects of a state and collected with
the public tax, and paid out to the public teachers of
religion of the several denominations in proportion to
the number of polls or families, belonging to each re-
spectively ; or according to their estimates. [For]

1. It would be equitable.

a Reporters were admitted to the national House of Repre-
sentatives in 1790 and to the Senate in 1802.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 353

2. It would be for the good order of the civil
state.

3. All ought to contribute to such a religious edu-
cation of the people as would conduce to civil order.

4. It would promote the peace in towns and socie-
ties.

5. It would do away with the legal expenses con-
sequent upon difficulties in collecting rates.

6. It would " extinguish the ardor of the founders
of new delusions and their weak and mercenary
abettors."

7. It would prevent separation except upon the
firmest principles ; " the powerful motive of saving
a penny or two in the pound, would cease to operate,
because their tax would continue still the same, go
where they will." m

It was also suggested that the Assembly should
fix ministers' salaries at so much per hundred
families, and that congregations should be per-
mitted to add to the annual grant by voluntary
contributions. These are but examples of the
reaching out of the public mind for some equi-
table method of enforcing the support of public
worship, — a principle to which the majority still
adhered.

The Laws of the State of Connecticut, under
which after the Revolution parishes were organ-
ized, contained no reference to the Episcopal
church as such. All societies and congregations

354 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

were placed on the same footing precisely, i.e.,
they " had power to provide for the support of
public worship by the rent or sale of pews or
slips in the meeting-house, by the establishment
of funds, or in any other way they might deem
expedient." With this amount of freedom Epis-
copalians were content, since by the consecra-
tion, in 1784, of Samuel Seabury, Bishop of
Connecticut, their ecclesiastical equipment was
complete.0 Further, many of them had been
Tories, and, satisfied with the clemency shown
them at the close of the war by the authorities,
they gladly affiliated with them in all Federal
measures of national importance, and also, for
over thirty years, in all local issues.

a Bishop Seabury was consecrated by the Scotch non-juring
bishops, Nov. 14, 1786. The latter, about four years later, were
restored to their position as an integral part of the Anglican
hierarchy. Meanwhile, Dr. Samuel Provoost of New York
and Dr. William White of Pennsylvania, on Feb. 4, 1787, were
consecrated by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York,
assisted by the Bishops of Wells and Peterborough, after a
special Act of Parliament permitting the consecration to take
place without the usual oaths of allegiance to the King as head
of the church. In 1789, Bishop Seabury became president of
the House of Bishops thus formed in America. The follow-
ing year, James Madison of Virginia was consecrated by the
English bishops, thus giving to the United States three bish-
ops after the English succession, so that the validity of the
Scottish rite should not be questioned in the consecration of
future American bishops.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 355

From 1783 to 1787 there was throughout the
United States a general disintegration of politi-
cal parties.175 Federalists and nascent Anti-
Federalists were alike seeking some basis f&i a
safe national existence. The Constitution once
established, political parties differentiated them-
selves as the party in power and the " out-party "
developed their respective interpretations of the
Constitution and of measures permitted under
it. The Anti-Federalist party in Connecticut is
sometimes said to have been born in 1783 out
of opposition both to the Commutation Act of
the Continental Congress, voting five years' full
pay instead of half -pay for life to the Revolu-
tionary officers, and to the formation of the Cin-
cinnati. Both of these measures touched the
main spring of party difference. America had
caste as well as Europe. Though of a different
type, it existed in every town and county. There
were the people of position, attained by family
standing, professional prominence, superior in-
telligence (rarely by wealth alone), and then,
as now, by natural leadership. There were the
common people of ordinary abilities and meagre
possessions, who looked up to this first class.
Between the two there was an invisible barrier.
The customs of the day emphasized it. Yet
the institutions of the land and its democracy

356 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

demanded that this barrier, not impassable to men
of parts and character who could push up from
the masses, should never become insurmountable,
as it often did under a monarchy ; that it should
be steadily leveled by intrusting the governing
power more and more to the whole people, rather
than to a few leaders ; and by educating the
masses up to their responsibilities. But many
of the leading Federalists preferred to concen-
trate power in the hands of the few, hesitating to
trust the judgment of the great body of citizens
with the new and novel government. And to
the people at large any measure that bore a re-
mote resemblance to monarchical institutions or
monarchical aspirations — however far remote
from either — was subject to suspicion and antag-
onism. The Cincinnati might be the beginning
of a nobility, and half-pay or five years' full pay
to the officers ignored the common soldiery who
had done most of the fighting, and who had
suffered even more severely in their fortunes."

a The eighty dollars proposed for privates would not go far
toward mending broken fortunes, or care for broken constitu-
tions and crippled bodies.

At the Middletown Convention, Sept. 3, 1783, delegates
from Hartford, Wethersfield, and Glastonbury met to de-
nounce the Commutation Act. At its adjourned meeting on
Sept. 30 fifty towns, a majority in the state, disapproved the
Act in an address to the General Assembly, and called attention
to the Society of the Cincinnati. At the last meeting, March,

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 357

When the measures of the first Congress pressed
hardest upon the impoverished landed proprietors
of the South and upon the small farmers in other
sections of the country, they welded the landed
aristocracy of the South and the democracy of
the North into the Anti-Federal party. Add to
their sense of impoverishment, their common
hatred of England, and these classes would hold
their prejudice longer than the merchants, the
lawyers, and the clergy, whose business, studies,
and labors would tend to soften the antagonism
created by the war. New England, however, was
largely Federal, and Connecticut was one of the
strongholds of that party, priding herself upon
returning Federal electors as long as there was
the shadow of the Federal name to vote for.
Moreover, the " Presbyterian Consociated Con-
gregational Church " and the Federalists were
so closely allied that the party of the government
and the party of the Establishment were famil-
iarly and collectively known as the " Standing
Order." During the early years of statehood,
by far the larger number of the dissenters were
also good Federalists. But they drew away from

1784, an address to the people of the state was framed which
condemned both the Commutation Act and the Cincinnati. —
J. H. Trumbull, Notes on the Constitution, p. 18. Noah Web-
ster, History of the Parties in the United States, pp. 317-320.

358 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

the party at a later date, when the Democratic-
Republicans began, in their Connecticut state
politics, to call for a broader suffrage and full
religious liberty, while the Federal Standing
Order still continued to claim, as within its
patronage, legal favors, political office, and the
honors of judicial, military, and civil life.
/ / After the Revolution, the rapidly increasing-

Baptists continued their warfare waged against
certificates and in behalf of religious liberty.
Methodists soon sympathized, for Methodist itin-
erants, entering Connecticut in 1789, gained a
footing, in spite of much opposition and real op-
pression through fines and imprisonments,0 and

a Methodism was twenty-eight years old, when, in 1766,
Robert Strawbridge introduced it into New York, and Philip
Embury preached his first sermon in a sail -loft. In 1771,
Francis Asbury, later Bishop Asbury, was appointed John
Wesley's "Assistant" in America. In 1773, the first Annual
Conference was held. Methodism rapidly spread in the Middle
and Southern states. By the year 1773-74, the year's increase
in members was nine hundred and thirteen ; in 1774-75, ten
hundred and seventy-three. The preachers traveled on foot
or on horseback, preaching as they went ; living on the smallest
allowance ; sleeping where night overtook them ; and meeting,
often with grudging hospitality, suspicion, and, sometimes,
open violence.

Methodism " began when Episcopacy was at its lowest point,
both in efficiency, and in the good-will of the people." It
agreed with Jonathan Edwards on the nature of personal
religion, and separated from the Church of England in this,
the Methodist's central principle of " conscious conversion " or

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 359

quickly made many converts. Their preachers
urged upon penurious and backward members
the importance of voluntary support of the gospel
in almost the same words as those of the Bap-
tist leader : " It is as real robbery to neglect
the ordinances of God, as it is to force people to
support preachers who will not trust his influence

" emotional experience." Later in New England, Wesley's
missionaries united in Methodist societies many of the converts
to the Edwardean theology.

At the opening of the Revolution, the whole body of Meth-
odists were within the Church of England. Of the English
missionaries only Asbury, Dempster, and Wharcott remained
in America to carry on, with native preachers, the work of
proselytizing. It was " the only form of religion that advanced
in America during that dark period, and during the war, it
more than quadrupled both its ministry and members." At
the beginning of the war, it had eighty traveling preachers,
beside local preachers and exhorters ; a membership of one
thousand, and auditors ten thousand. In 1784, there was a year's
increase of fourteen thousand nine hundred and eighty-eight
members, and of one hundred and four preachers to rejoice in
the consecration of Bishop Asbury. In the November of that
year, Bishops Coke and Asbury, organizing the " American
Episcopal Church," in spite of Wesley's anathemas probably
led out one hundred thousand souls as the nucleus of the new
church.

For a while the Connecticut authorities refused to recognize
" as sober Dissenters " any converts other than the stationed
preachers and their charges. The persecutions which the
Methodists suffered were those of slander, the refusal to them
of halls, churches, or public buildings ; the refusal to permit
their ministers, unless located, to perform the marriage cere-
mony ; and petty fines, with occasional unjust imprisonment.

360 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

for a temporal living." 176 Baptists, Methodists,
and many other dissenters were far from satis-
fied with their status, and the government from
time to time was forced to take notice of the dis-
satisfaction. Temporary legislation was enacted
to allay the unrest, but, as there was a settled
determination to protect the Establishment and
to keep the political leadership among its friends,
the various measures were not successful. For
instance, the legislature in 1785-86 had arranged
for the sale of the Western Lands and for the
money expected from their sale to be divided
among the various Christian bodies, and it had
also enacted —

that there shall be reserved to the public five hun-
dred acres of land in each township for the support
of the gospel ministry and five hundred acres more
for the support of schools in such towns forever ; and
two hundred and forty acres of good ground in each
town to be granted in fee simple to the first gospel
minister who shall settle in such town.177

Nothing is here said of the Presbyterians, or
of any other sect, yet that denomination was sure
to receive the greater benefit under the working
of the law. They were a wealthy body, and in
the next year, they began, under the General
Association of Connecticut, to renew their earlier
efforts for an organized planting of missions.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 361

Attempts to establish missionary posts were be-
gun as early as 1774, but they had been inter-
rupted by the war, and were not revived until
1780, when two missionaries were sent to Ver-
mont. After a little, the missionary spirit lan-
guished through lack of support ; but interest had
been roused again by the promised lands and
money from the sales in the Western Reserve,
and by the contributions that, flowing in from
1788 to 1791, warranted the dispatch of mission-
aries into the western field in 1792, and regu-
larly thereafter.178

Turning to the religious and more strictly
theological side of the development of toleration,
there was within the Establishment itself a grad-
ual modification of opinion concerning member-
ship. It was witnessed to by the contents of a
book entitled " Christian Forbearance to Weak
Consciences a Duty of the Gospel," by John
Lewis of Stepney parish, Wethersfield. It was
sent out in 1789 for the purpose of " Attempting
to prove that Persons, absenting themselves from
the Lord's Table, through honest scruples of
Conscience, is not such a breach of Covenant
but that they partake other Privileges." One
may recall that twenty years previous, 1769-71,
Dr. Bellamy was thundering not only against
the Half- Way Covenant, but also against the

362 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Stoddardean view of the Lord's Supper as a
" means " of grace, — as a sacrament the par-
taking of which would help unworthy or uncon-
verted men to conversion and to the leading of
moral and holy lives. One might, for a moment,
anticipate that the Wethersfield pastor was hark-
ing back to the old idea. But this was not his
point of view. " I reprobate," he writes, " the idea
of a Half- Way Covenant, or sealing of such a
covenant." 179 Lewis contended that all seekers
after holiness were to enter the church through
the " very same covenant," but that to all of
them were to be extended the same and all church
privileges, and that they were to accept them
" as far as in their conscience they can see their
way clear, hoping for further light." If they
could accept baptism and church oversight, and
could not, because of honest scruples of con-
science (lest they were not worthy), approach the
Lord's Table, they were not for that reason to
be considered reprobates. As to such charity open-
ing a way for persons of immoral lives to creep
into the churches or to put off willfully the par-
taking of communion, the author's experience of
many years had proved the contrary, though he
could not deny that the possibility of hypocrisy
and backsliding might exist under any form of
member ship.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 363

As a side light upon the growth of toleration
during twenty years within the churches of the
Establishment, two entries in President Stiles's
diary may be quoted. Writing in 1769, to the
Rev. Noah Wells of Stamford, Conn., with refer-
ence to the call of the Rev. Samuel Hopkins to
a pastorate in Newport, R. L, where Dr. Stiles
was then j)reaching, the latter says : " If I find
him (Hopkins) of a Disposition to live in an
honorable Friendship, I shall gladly cultivate it.
But he must not expect that I recede from my
Sentiments both in Theology and ecclesiastical
Polity more than he from his, in which I pre-
sume he is immovably fixed. We shall certainly
differ in some things. I shall endeavor to my
utmost to live with him as a Brother ; as I think
(it) dishonorable that in almost every populous
place on this Continent, where there are two or
more Presb. [yterian] or Cong, [regational] Chhs.
[churches], they should be at greater variance
than Prot. [estants] and Romanists : witness
every city or Town from Georgia to Nova Scotia
(except Portsmth) a where there are more Presb.
chhs than one. The Wound is well nigh healed
here, may it not break out again."180 Writ-
ing some two years after the appearance of
Lewis's book, President Stiles, commenting upon

« Portsmouth, N. H.

364 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

the fact that each dissenting sect was so absolutely
sure that it alone had the only perfect type
of faith and polity, notes the greater tolerance
among the Congregational churches, for the
latter were not as a rule close communion
churches, as were those of the dissenting sects.

Indeed, the intolerance shown towards dis-
senters was by this time not so much sectarian,
not so much a lack of tolerance toward slightly
varying fundamentals of faith, form of worship,
and organization, as an intolerance based upon
the conviction that the body politic must be pro-
tected by a state church. There was, of course, a
little of the exasperating sense of superiority in
belonging to the favored Establishment. The
old objection to dissent as heresy — as a sin for
which the community was responsible — had
for the most part given way to opposition to it as
introducing a system of voluntary contributions
for the support of religion. And there was a
very general and well-defined fear that such a
support would prove inadequate. If so, deterio-
ration of the state and of its people would follow.
For individual worth and character, many among
the dissenters were highly respected, and the
great body of them were esteemed good citizens.
Among the churches, some few of the established
ones were beginning to have their own services

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 365

occasionally conducted by dissenting ministers.
The First Society of Canterbury entered a vote
to this effect in 1791. As the churches trans-
lated more liberally the Articles of the Saybrook
Platform, they approached a polity more in com-
mon with that of Separatist and Baptist. By
1800, the teachings of John Wise of Ipswich,
reinforced by those of Nathaniel Emmons, " the
father of modern Congregationalism," had per-
meated all New England. Wise, in his efforts to
revive the independence of the single churches,
had exploded the Barrowism which New England
usage had introduced into original Congregation-
alism, and the rebound had carried the churches
as far beyond the Cambridge Platform towards
original Brownism as the Presbyterian movement
had carried their polity away from the Cam-
bridge instrument.181 The later Edwardean school
had devoted itself to the discussion of doctrine
rather than to polity, and, in the alliance with
Presbyterianism outside of Connecticut, it had
affiliated without attaching much weight to dif-
ferences in church government. Their common
interest, at first, was to unite against a pos-
sible supremacy of the Church of England, and
against the danger to their own churches and to
good government from the increase of dissent-
ers. Later, their united efforts were directed to

366 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

forwarding Christian missions in order that the
gospel might not be left out of the civilization
on the frontier. In this later work, they had
competitors as soon as the Baptists and Metho-
dists became strongly organized bodies. Accord-
ingly Presbyterians and Congregationalists still
further sank their differences of discipline in the
Plan of Union of 1801, formed for the further-
ance of the mission work. Thus it was many
years before questions of polity again took front
rank in the Congregational churches. Already
their very indifference to it, the long years of the
gradual abandonment of the Saybrook system,
together with the development in civil life of a
broader conception of humanity, had tended to
bring back the independence of the individual
church, while custom had preserved the inrooted
principle of church-fellowship. It needed only
Nathaniel Emmons to embody practice and opin-
ion in a system that should break away from the
aristocratic Congregationalism, the semi-Presby-
terianized Congregationalism of the eighteenth
century, and give to the nineteenth a democracy
in the Church equivalent to that in the State.
Emmons, however, carried his theory to extremes °

" " A pure democracy which places every member of the
church upon a level and gives him perfect liberty with order.''
Under such a definition of a church as this, its pastor becomes

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 367

when opposing ministerial associations ; yet with
some modifications modern Congregationalism
is essentially that of his school. Church polity,
however, did not become a topic of general inter-
est for at least half a century more, nor was it
formulated anew until the Albany Convention of
1862 passed "upon the local work and respon-
sibility of a Congregational Church."

From the politico-ecclesiastical point of view,
the legislative measures in the history of Con-
necticut, during the fifteen years after the colony
became a state, that are of chief importance are
the Certificate Laws and Western Land bills.
In order to properly appreciate their significance
this summary of the industrial, social, and reli-
gious life of the Connecticut people during the
years following the Revolution was necessary.

only a moderator at its meetings, and every church is abso-
lutely independent. It would follow that from its decisions
there could be no appeal. Emmons was fond of declaring that
" Association leads to Consociation ; Consociation leads to
Presbyterianism ; Presbyterianism leads to Episcopacy ; Epis-
copacy to Roman Catholicism, and Roman Catholicism is an
ultimate fact."

In spite of his teaching as to democracy, Emmons was as
intolerant of it in the State as he was earnest for it in the
Church.

CHAPTER XIII

CERTIFICATE LAWS AND WESTERN LAND BILLS

And make the bounds of Freedom wider yet.

Axfred Tennyson.

The legal recognition of conscience, the acknow-
ledgment of fundamental dogmas held in com-
mon, the gradual approachment of the various
religious organizations in polity, their common
interest in education and good government,
would seem to furnish grounds for such mutual
esteem that the government would willingly do
away with the objectionable certificates. On the
contrary, the old conception of a state church,
and of its value to the body politic, was so
strongly intrenched in the hearts of the majority
of the people that they felt it incumbent upon
them to require the certificates as guarantees
that those who were without the Establishment
were fulfilling their religious duties. Particu-
larly was this the case when new sects contin-
ued to increase and radical opinions to spread
among the masses. And as the government saw
these apparently destructive ideas permeating

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 369

the people, it endeavored, rather unwisely, to
hem dissent in closer bounds, and to favor still
more Congregationalists and Presbyterian-Con-
gregationalists.

The aggressively successful proselytizing by
the Methodists revived the old dislike of rash ex-
horters and itinerant preachers, and the old con-
tempt for an ignorant and unlearned ministry.
The proselytizing movement had also created a
suspicion that it was hypocritical, and that it
was masking a deliberate attempt to undermine
the Establishment. Outside this Methodist pro-
paganda there were also all sorts of unorthodox
ideas that were spreading notions of Universal-
ism, Arianism, deism, atheism, and freethinking,
and making many converts. These proselytes
were frequent among the untutored and irre-
sponsible members of society who caught at the
doctrines of greater freedom, and sometimes trans-
lated them, theoretically at least, into principles
of greater personal license ; and where they did
not do this, the authorities felt sure that they
would soon, and if unrestrained by ecclesiastical
law, would quickly become lawless, first in reli-
gious affairs and then, as a consequence, in moral
ones. Not only in this radical class, but among
the recognized dissenters and among a minority
of other religious folk, there was a tendency to

370 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

question both the authority and the justice of the
government in its restrictive religious laws, its
ecclesiastical taxation, and its Sabbath-day legis-
lation. Particularly was there opposition to the
fine for absence from public worship on Sunday,
unless excused by weighty reasons, and to the
assessment upon every one of a tax for the sup-
port of some form of recognized public worship,
even though the tax-payer had no personal inter-
est or liking for that which he was obliged to
support. The feeling that such injustice ought
not to continue was strong among some members
of the Establishment. They found a powerful
advocate in Judge Zephaniah Swift of Wind-
ham, the author of the " System of the Laws of
the State of Connecticut."

Judge Swift was a thorough-going Federal-
ist, but so bitter an opponent of the union of
Church and State that his enemies, and even
members of his own party, taunted him with
being a freethinker, — a serious charge in those
days. Nevertheless, Judge Swift held the loyalty
of a county and of one rather tolerant of dis-
sent. " The Phenix or Windham Herald,"
founded in 1790, though Federal in politics,
became Judge Swift's organ ; and so acceptable
were his opinions, taken all in all, to the com-
munity, that from 1787 to 1793 it returned this

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 371

arch-enemy of the Establishment as its deputy
to the House, and then his congressional district
honored him with a seat in the national council
until 1799. He became chief justice in 1806,
and died in 1819, having lived to see the char-
ter constitution set aside and Church and State
divorced.

The small Anti-Federal party in the state,
though making but very few converts at this time,
and though of very little importance politically,
were the pronounced advocates of a wider suf-
frage, a larger tolerance, and of radical changes
in the method of government. The last they
believed necessary before any great improvement
in the terms of the franchise or in those of reli-
gious toleration could be secured. " An Address
to the Baptists, Quakers, Eogerines, and all
other denominations of Christians in Connecti-
cut, freed by law from supporting what has
been called the <• Established Religion,' " went
the rounds of the newspapers urging continued
resistance to the support of any religious system
that enforced a tax. The " Address " closed
with the cheerful prediction that, as their num-
bers were increasing very rapidly, they might
hope yet " to carry the vote against those who
have put on haughty airs and affected to treat
us as their inferiors."

372 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Such seething opposition among various classes
induced the government to enact some special
legislation ; but it was unfortunately not of a
conciliatory character. In May, 1791, a law was
passed varying the old requirement that certifi-
cates, after being signed by a church officer,
should be lodged with the Society clerk, to the
demand that they be signed by two civil officers,
or, where there was only one, by the justice of
the peace of the town in which the dissenter
lived. Considering that the justices were mostly
Congregationalists, the enactment amounted to
an intrenchment of the Standing Order at the
expense of the dissenters. With these officers
lay full power to pass upon the validity of the
certificates and upon the honesty of intent on the
part of the persons presenting them. The certif-
icates read : —

We have examined the claim of who says

he is a Dissenter from the Established Society of
and hath joined himself to a church or Congre-
gation of the name of ; and that he ordinarily

attends upon the public worship of such Church or
Congregation ; and that he contributes his share and
proportion toward supporting the public worship
and ministry thereof, do upon examination find that
the above facts are true. Dated

Justice of the Peace.182

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 373

A veritable doubt, spite, malice, prejudice, or
mistaken zeal, might determine the granting of
the certificate to the dissenter.

The authorities defended this measure upon
the ground that it was the civil effect of preach-
ing that gives the civil magistrate jurisdiction.
" The law,'* they said, "has nothmg to do with
conscience and principles." 183 They further de-
clared that there were persons who were taking
undue advantage of the certificate exemptions,
and that there were good reasons to doubt the
validity of many of the certificates.

This Certificate Act roused the dissenters
throughout the state. " In public society meet-
ings and in speaking universal abroad, sensible
that their numbers though scattered were large,"
they strove to create a sentiment that should
send to the next legislature a " body of repre-
sentatives who would remember their petition
and see that equal religious liberty should be
established."

In regard to the certificates, a writer in the
" Courant " exclaims : —

It is sometimes said that the giving of a certifi-
cate once a year or once in a man's life is but a trifle,
and none but the obstinate will refuse it as none but
the covetous desire it. True it is but a trifle — ten
times as much would be but a trifle if it was right.

374 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

If it must be done, let them who plead for it do the
little trifle ; they have no scruples of conscience about
it. . . . The certificate law is as much worse than
the tax on tea as religious fetters are worse than
civil.184

The Rev. John Leland V The Rights of Con-
science inalienable ; therefore Religions Opinions
not cognizable by Law ; Or The High flying
Churchman, stript of his legal Robe appears a
yaho " was a powerful arraignment of the gov-
ernment and defense of the right of all to
worship as conscience bade them. Leland had
recently come from Virginia and settled in New
London. In the southern state he had been one
of the most influential among the Baptist minis-
ters and a great power in politics. In Virginia
he had seen the separation of Church and State
in 1785, and had witnessed the benefits follow-
ing that policy. After the publication of his
" Rights of Conscience " the question before the
Connecticut people became one of establishment
or disestablishment, because Leland, not content
with showing the falsity of the position that civil
necessities required an established church, or
with a logical demonstration of the inalienable
rights of conscience, proceeded to boldly attack
the Charter of Charles II as being in no right-
ful sense the constitution of the state of Con-

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 375

necticut. He maintained that, " Constitution "
though it was called, it was not such, because it
had been enforced upon the people by a mere vote
of the legislature ° and was a " constitution "
never " assented to further than passive obedi-
ence and non resistance " by the people at large ;
a constitution —

contrary to the known sentiments of a far greater
part of the States in the Union ; and inconsistent
with the clear light of liberty, which is spreading
over the world in meridian splendor, and dissipating
those antique glooms of tyrannical darkness which
were ever opposed to free, equal, religious liberty
among men.

Leland arraigns a union of Church and State
that presupposes a need of legislative support for
religion, which the example of other states has
proved unnecessary ; and which the experience
of communities, persisting in such union, has
shown to be productive of evil, of ignorance,

a The vote of the Assembly was : " That the ancient form
of civil government, containing1 the charter from Charles the
Second, King of England, and adopted by the people of this
State, shall be and remain the Civil Constitution of the State
under the sole authority of the people thereof, independent of
any King, or Prince whatever. And that this Republic is and
shall forever be and remain a free, sovereign, and independent
State, by the name of the State of Connecticut." — Revision
of Acts and Laws, Ed. 1784, p. 1.

376 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

superstition, persecution, lying and hypocrisy, a
weakness to the civil state, and a conversion of
the Bible and of religion to tools of statecraft
and political trickery.

Government has no more to do with religious opin-
ions of men than it has with the principles of mathe-
matics. . . . Truth disdains the aid of law for its
defence, ... it will stand upon its own merit. . . .
Is it just to balance the Establishment against the
rights guaranteed in the charter, and to enact a law
which has no saving clause to prevent taxation of Jew,
Turk, Papist, Deist, Atheist, for the support of a
ministry in which they would not share and which
violated their conscience ? 186

Many Federalists of Judge Swift's type sym-
pathized with Leland's bold arraignment of the
Establishment, if not with his view of the uncon-
stitutionality of the charter government. These
men repudiated the new certificate law.

The authorities felt that they had gone too
far, and in October, 1791, after an existence of
only six months, they repealed the certificate law
by one hundred and five yeas to fifty-seven nays.
The new law that was substituted permitted each
dissenter to write his own certificate, release, or
" sign-off," as the papers were colloquially called,
and required him to file it with the clerk of the
Established Society wherein he dwelt.186 This

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 377

favor was not so great a privilege as it seemed.
It bore hard upon the dissenters in two ways. It
created " Neuters," people who wished to be re-
lieved from the ecclesiastical taxes, but who were
too indifferent to the principles and welfare of the
churches to which they allied themselves to faith-
fully support them. For their churches to com-
plain of such persons to the authorities would
only give the latter reasons for enforcing the
laws for the support of the Establishment. Then
again, the new certificate law did not relieve the
dissenters who lived too far from their churches
to ordinarily attend them from petty fines and
from court wrangles as to the justice of them, for
with the judges lay the determination of what the
words " far " and " near" and " ordinarily do at-
tend " in the laws meant.0 The important ques-
tion of how many absences from church would
prevent a man from claiming that he was a regu-
lar attendant was thus left in the hands of judges,
who were for the most part prejudiced or partial.
Many amusing and exasperating legal quibbles
occurred in the courts between judges, who were

a " Courts and juries had usually been composed of what was
considered the standing church, and they had frequently prac-
ticed such quibbles and finesse with respect to the forms of
certificates and the nature of dissenting- congregations as to
defeat the benevolent intentions of the law." — Swift's System
of Laws, pp. 146, 147.

378 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

determined to sentence for neglect of public wor-
ship, and defendants, who were equally positive
of their rights. Many dissenters attempted later
to ridicule the law out of existence by substitut-
ing for the formal —

I certify that I differ in sentiment from the wor-
ship and ministry in the ecclesiastical society of

in the town of constituted by law within certain

local bounds, and have chosen to join myself to the
(Insert here the name of society you have joined) in

the town of .

Dated at this day of A. d.

declarations, undignified in wording and some-
times written in doggerel rhyme. While grant-
ing the new certificate law, the Assembly were
careful to pass a minor ecclesiastical statute
enforcing a fine of from six to twelve shillings
upon all who should neglect to observe all public
fasts and thanksgivings.187 This law at times
proved unsatisfactory to the Episcopalians, for
the Congregational fasts and feasts were ap-
pointed by the authorities, who naturally did not
consider the Churchman's feeling when called
upon to celebrate a feast or thanksgiving during
an Episcopalian season of fasting, or to observe
a public fast, to go m sackcloth, upon an anniver-
sary that should be marked by joy and praise.
In 1792, the year following the attempt to

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 379

remodel the certificate laws, certain legislative
measures with reference to Yale College fed the
discontent among the dissenting sects. For some
years there had been an increasing dissatisfac-
tion with the management of the college. It
culminated in 1792 in the reorganization of the
governing board, to which were added eight
civilians, including the governor, lieutenant-gov-
ernor, and the six senior councilors or state sen-
ators. At the same time, and in consideration of
the admission of laymen to the board, $40,000
was given to the college.0 This money was a part
of the taxes which had been collected to meet the
expenses of the Revolutionary war, and which
were in the state treasury when the United States
government offered to refund the state for such
expense. It was granted to the college on con-
dition that she should invest it in the new United
States bonds, and that half the profits of the in-
vestment should be at the disposal of the state.
This arrangement relieved the crippled finances
of the college and gratified many of its friends.
But there were many who regarded the measure
as out-and-out favoritism to a Congregational
college, and who put no faith in the proposed
half-sharing of profits. They maintained that

° Yale received in all $40,629.80. In 1871, six alumni re-
placed the six senior councilors.

380 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

eventually the college would get the whole ben-
efit of the money that had been collected for
other purposes, and from many persons who
could derive no benefit from such a disposal of
it. These prophets were not far wrong, for after
Yale had paid into the state treasury a little
more than $ 13,000 she was relieved from further
payments by a repeal, in 1796, of the conditional
clause of the grant.

This favoritism to Yale was not the only legis-
lation to anger the dissenters, and especially the
Baptists. Another measure, mooted at the same
time as the certificate acts and the special grant
to the college, was accepted as a further mark
of the government's determination to ignore the
rights of dissenters. In 1785-86 the Assembly
had granted lands for the support of the Gospel
ministry, for schools, and to the first minister
to settle in each township of the Western Re-
serve. This act, as has been shown, was con-
sidered to unduly favor the Presbyterians. But
little had come of this legislation beyond the
survey of the land and the opening of a land
office there for its sale. Five years later, in
1791, even though no part of the tract had been
sold, the Assembly introduced a new bill appro-
priating the anticipated proceeds from the sale
of the land to the several ecclesiastical societies

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 381

as a fund with which to pay their ministers so
as to enable them to do away with the tax for sala-
ries. But the excitement roused by the first cer-
tificate law — of 1791 — was so great that it was
deemed prudent to continue this Western Land
bill over to the next session of the legislature,
and there it was lost. The session of May, 1792,
contented itself with only such legislation in re-
gard to the Western Eeserve as that by which
it granted the " Fire Lands," so called, a grant
of 500,000 acres as indemnity to the citizens of
New London, Groton, Fairfield, Norwalk, and
Danbury, for the destruction of their property in
the burning of their towns by British troops.

As the lands of the Western Reserve did not
sell well,a the Assembly, in 1793, appointed a
committee to dispose of the tract to the highest
bidder if the amount offered should be duly guar-
anteed with interest ; principal and interest pay-
able to the state within four or six years, whether
paid in lump sum on demand, or by installments.
The sale was widely advertised both within and
without the state. It was now calculated that the
amount realized from the sale of the lands would
be a sum yielding an annual interest of $ 60,000,
or an average of $600 to a town, beside a bonus

a So far the highest bid for the tract of land had been

$350,000.

382 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

to Yale of $8000. Therefore, the Assembly, in
October, 1793, voted that —

moneys arising from the sale of the territory be-
longing to the State, lying west of the state of Penn-
sylvania, be, and the same is hereby established a
perpetual fund, the interest whereof is granted, and
shall be appropriated to the use and benefit of the
several ecclesiastical societies, churches, congregations
of all denominations in this State, to be by them
applied to the support of their respective ministers or
preachers of the Gospel, and schools of education,
under such rules and regulations as shall be adopted
by this or some future session of the General As-
sembly.188

An earlier bill had been proposed, discussed,
and tabled. This act was originally a resolution
framed by a large committee whose members
represented both the friends and opponents of
the proposal for the immediate sale of the lands.
When the vote passed, it was by eighty-three
yeas to seventy nays in the House and by a large
and favorable majority in the Council.

One fault that the dissenters found with the
law was that, under the rules and regulations
adopted by the Assembly, they believed that the
alternative which the law allowed of voting the
money to the ministerial fund, or to the school,
would work to their disadvantage. Where there

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 383

were few dissenters, the Presbyterian vote would
carry the money over to the minister's use, and
where there were many, the same vote would be
sufficient, if thrown, as it probably would be, to
direct the money to the school appropriation. It
would follow that the dissenters might never
have the use of the money for the support of
their own worship.

The Baptists voiced the general opposition
among the dissenters, — an opposition so strong
that it appealed to some of the conservatives as
sufficient reason in itself to condemn the law.
" A Friend to Society " wrote to the " Hartford
Courant" that —

if a religion whose principles are universal love and
harmony is to be supported and promoted by a means
which will blow up the sparks of faction and party
strife into a violent flame, it is a new way of promot-
ing religion. Much better would it be for the State
of Connecticut that their Western Lands should be
sunk by an earthquake and form part of the adjoin-
ing lake than that they should be transplanted hither
for a bone of contention.

Apart from sectarian interests, the law met
with hostility. There were those who thought
that the money ought to be applied at once to
the remaining indebtedness of the state, rather
than for it to wait for another installment on

384 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

the Revolutionary debt that was still' due from
the national government. There were more who
thought that the money ought to go for the ex-
penses of government, or for direct advantages,
such as the repair of bridges and highways. But
the expenses of government were light,0 and, as

° The annual expenses were estimated to be approximately
$90,000. In Advice to Connecticut Folks, 1786, occurs the fol-
lowing estimate : —

Necessary Unnecesy

Governor's salary, £300 £300

Lieutenant-Governor's, 100 100

Upper House attendance and travel 60 days at
£10 per day, 600 600

Lower House attendance and travel 170 mem-
bers at 65. a day, 60 days, 3,060 1,530 £1,530

Five Judges of the Superior Court at 245. a
day, suppose 150 days, 900 900

Forty Judges of Inferior Court at 95. a day,
suppose 40 days, 720 720

Six thousand actions in the year, the legal ex-
penses of each, suppose £3,

Gratuities to 120 lawyers, suppose £50 each,

Two hundred clergymen at £100 each,

Five hundred schools at £20 a year,

Support of poor,

Bridges and other town expenses,

Contingencies and articles not enumerated,

Total, £89,680 £66,150 £23,530

As a glimpse at society, it may be added that the Advice
itself is an energetic and statistical condemnation of the pre-
valent use of " Rum," estimated at £90,000 or " ninety-nine
hundredths unnecessary expense " in living. " Deny it if you
can, good folks. Now say not a word about taxes, Judges,
lawyers, courts and women's extravagances. Your government,
your courts, your lawyers, your clergymen, your schools and
your poor, do not all cost you so much as one paltry article
which does you little or no good but is as destructive of your

18,000

1,000

17,000

6,000

1,000

5,000

20,000

20,000

10,000

10,000

10,000

10,000

10,000

10,000

10,000

10,000

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 385

a rule, the people were willing to keep the high-
ways in repair. There was still another party
who contended that the money should go for
schools, both because they were needed in larger
numbers, and because they ought to be able
to pay larger salaries and not ones so small as to
tempt only the farmer lad, or the ambitious stu-
dent, to keep a country school for a few months
in winter, or a somewhat similarly equipped
woman to teach in summer. And there was yet
another party who were convinced that the money
should go to the support of the ministry, for
they believed that morality could be taught only
by religion, and that the people were losing in-
terest in the latter because of the inferiority of
the preachers whom the small salaries and inse-
cure support kept in the field.189

While this discussion of certificate laws, of
grants to Yale, and of grants of land and money
to the ecclesiastical societies had been constantly
before the public, there had also been present a
minor grievance due to the Assembly's interest

lives as fire and brimstone." — Noah Webster's Collection of
Essays, pp. 137-139.

The evil was beginning to be recognized in all its danger.
Here and there voluntary temperance clubs were beginning to
be formed among the better classes, but it was a time when
hardly a contract was closed without a stipulation of a certain
quantity of rum for each workman.

38G THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

in the missionary work that the General Associ-
ation had extended to include parts of Vermont,
western New York, Pennsylvania, and the out-
lying settlements in Ohio. In the western field
the missionaries sent by Connecticut frequently
met those sent out by the Presbyterian General
Assembly. Drawn together by their interests in
these missions in 1794, the practice was begun
of having three delegates from the General As-
sociation meet with the Presbyterian General
Assembly in their annual convention, and three
delegates from the General Assembly take their
seats in the yearly convocation of the General
Association of Connecticut. So long as the Con-
necticut churches were strongly Presbyterian in
sentiment, there was no clashing of interests
among the workers in the mission field. Natu-
rally, Connecticut wanted to do her full share of
missionary work ; and feeling the need of more
money for the purpose, the General Association,
in 1792, appealed to the legislature for permis-
sion to take up an annual collection for three
years. The Association hesitated to take up such
a collection in all the churches, dissenting or
Established, without such permission. The Bap-
tists expressed their indignation at the wording
of Governor Huntington's proclamation, "that
there be a contribution taken up in every con-

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 387

gregation for the support of the Presbyterian
Missions in the western territory." More than
that, they refused to contribute, on the ground
that if the collection had been " recommended ''
they would gladly have helped a Christian cause,
but that it was inexpedient to yield to a demand
that all societies should contribute to the sup-
port of missions that were entirely under the
control of one religious body. Furthermore, with
reference to the appropriation of money from
the Western Lands, they would join with other
dissenters in opposing it, on the ground that, in
order to obtain their share of the money, they
would have to admit their inferiority through the
showing of the compulsory certificates. More-
over, even the scant favor secured through these
was in danger from the continual favoritism of
the legislature, with its treasury open at all times
to its Congregational college, and with its enact-
ments in favor of the Established Churches.

At the May session of the Assembly, 1794,
the Baptists from all over the state thronged the
steps of the capitol at Hartford, angered almost
to the point of precipitating civil war. There
John Leland addressed them, urging the neces-
sity of government ; the power of constitutional
reform ; arguing for rights of conscience, citing
both European and colonial history to prove

388 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

their reasonableness and their value to the body
politic ; and setting forth Connecticut's depar-
ture from the glorious freedom mapped out by
her founders. He declared to that great and
angry crowd : —

Government is a necessary evil and so a chosen
good. Its business is to preserve the life, liberty and
property of the many units that form the body pol-
itic. . . . When a constitution of government is
formed, it should be simple and explicit ; the powers
that are vested in, and work to be performed by each
department should be denned with the utmost per-
spicuity ; and this constitution should be attended
to as scrupulously by men in office as the Bible
should be by all religionists. . . . Let the people
first be convinced of the deficiency of the constitu-
tion, and remove the defects thereof, and then, those
in office can change the administration upon consti-
tutional grounds.

[The right to worship] God according to the dic-
tates of conscience, without being prohibited, directed
or controlled therein by human law, either in time,
place or manner, cannot be surrendered up to the
general government for an equivalent.190

Had not Governor Haynes said to Roger
Williams, " The Most High God hath provided
and cut ou£ this part of the world for a refuge
and receptacle for all sorts of consciences?"

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 389

How had not Connecticut fallen ? How passed
her ancient glory, how ignored her charter's
rights ? How firm a grip upon her had that incu-
bus of her own raising, the pernicious union of
Church and State ? Break that, as elsewhere it
had been broken, and then as freemen demand a
constitution guaranteeing both civil and religious
liberty.

The result of the widespread hostility was the
attempt at the May session of 1794 to repeal
the offensive law. The Lower House did repeal
it, after a lively debate, by a vote of 109 yeas
to 58 nays, but the Council, or Upper House,
where the conservatives were intrenched, refused
to pass the bill. However, they were induced to
pass a resolution suspending the sale of the
lands. The debate in the House was published
verbatim in the " Hartford Gazette " of May 19,
1794, and was copied by the papers throughout
the state. In the following October a bill was
passed by the Council, but continued over by
the House and ordered to be printed in all the
papers, that the people might have opportunity
to consider it before it should come up to be
passed upon by their representatives in the May
session of 1795.191 The terms of the bill were
that the principal sum of money received from
the sale of the Western Lands should be appor-

390 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

tioned among the several school societies accord-
ing to the list of polls and rateable estates, and
that the interest arising from the money so
divided should be appropriated to the support of
schools that were kept according to the law, or
to the support of the public worship of God and
the Christian ministry, " as the majority of the
legal voters should annually determine." 192

The proposed law was subjected to public
scrutiny of all sorts. It was agitated in town
meetings, and the discussions for and against it
were noticed in the newspapers, where much space
was given to its consideration. Ministers made
it the subject of their sermons. Dr. Dwight dis-
coursed upon the subject in his Thanksgiving
sermon.193 When the proposed bill came up be-
fore the legislature, it encountered considerable
opposition, but after some modifications it became
a law. As in school societies the dissenters had
an equal vote, and in all town affairs were worth
conciliating, there was more justice in the new
law than in the old, where the ecclesiastical so-
ciety was made the unit of division. From 1717
to 1793 the towns, parishes, and occasionally the
ecclesiastical societies had charge of the schools.194
But in 1794 school districts were authorized and
the change to them begun. Such districts could,
upon the vote of two thirds of all the qualified

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 391

voters, locate schools, lay taxes to build and re-
pair them, and appoint a collector to gather such
rates. The act of May, 1795, appropriating the
money from the Western Lands to the schools,
provided also that the school districts should be
erected into school societies to whom the money
should be distributed, and by whom the interest
thereon should be expended ; and that it should
go "to no other Use or Purpose whatsoever;
except in the Case and under the circumstances
hereafter mentioned." The circumstances here
referred to were in cases where two thirds of the
legal voters in a school society meeting, legally
warned, voted to use the interest money for the
support of the ministry in that Society, and ap-
pealed to the General Assembly for permission
to so use the money. Upon such an expression
of the wish of voters, the General Assembly was
empowered to answer in the affirmative. The
act also repealed that of 1793. The legislature
appointed another commission for the sale of the
lands. They were sold in the following October
for 11,200,000. By this legislation was laid the
foundation of Connecticut's School Fund. The
Connecticut Land Company, which had made
the purchase, petitioned the legislature in 1797
that Connecticut should surrender her jurisdic-
tion over the lands to the United States. The

392 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT

state complied. In 1798 the organization of the
new school societies was perfected, and the con-
trol of the schools passed entirely into their hands
until the district system of 1856 was adopted.

The Western Land bills had resulted in the
establishment of a public school fund and in its
just distribution, without reference to sectarian-
ism, among the people. All the agitation attend-
ing both the certificate acts and Western Land
bills had demonstrated the intense opposition of
the dissenting minority, and that they were be-
ginning to look to the increase of their numbers
and the power of the ballot as the only means of
changing the vexatious laws under which they
were treated as inferiors. To the Congregation-
alists, strong both as the Established Church and
as members of the Federal party, which counted
many adherents among all the dissenting sects,
the possibility that any voting strength could
be brought against them, adequate to oppose their
party measures, seemed improbable. Such a pos-
sibility must be very remote. Yet within twenty
years, they were to see the downfall of the Fed-
eral party, of the Established Church, and of
Connecticut's charter government.

CHAPTER XIV

POLITICAL PARTIES IN CONNECTICUT AT THE
BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

As well dam up the waters of the Nile with Bullrushes as
to fetter the steps of Freedom. — L. M. Child.

Leland's attack upon the constitution of Con-
necticut during the excitement over the Western
Land bills called for new tactics on the part of
the dissenters. Thus far, in all their antagonism
to the union of Church and State, there had been
on their part practically no attack upon the con-
stitution itself. Yet even as early as 1786 the
Anti-Federalists had proclaimed that the state
of Connecticut was without a constitution ; that
the charter government fell with the Declaration
of Independence ; and that its adoption by the
legislature as a state constitution was an unwar-
ranted excess of authority. The Anti-Federalists
maintained also that many of the charter pro-
visions were either outgrown or unsuited to the
needs of the state. But the majority of the dis-
senters, like the Constitutional Reform party of
recent date, preferred redress for their griev-

394 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

ances through legislation rather than through
the uprooting of an ancient and cherished con-
stitution. Accordingly, it was not until the elec-
tions of 1804-6 that this question of a new
constitution could reasonably be made a cam-
paign issue. But from 1793 the dissenters began
to lean towards affiliation with the Democratic-
Republican0 party, the successors to the Anti-
Federal ; yet it was not until toward the close of
the War of 1812 that the Republican party made
large gains in Connecticut and the dissenters
began to feel sure that the dawn of religious
liberty was at hand. But before that time the
Republicans made three distinct though abortive
attempts to secure the electoral power.

The Anti-Federalists early began to probe for
weak spots in the constitutional government of
Connecticut. The Fundamental Orders had given
four deputies to each of the three original towns,
and had made the number of deputies from each
new town proportionate to its population. The
Charter had limited the deputies to two from
each town. The Fundamental Orders gave the
General Court, composed of Governor, Magis-
trates or Assistants, and Deputies, supreme gov-

a This party, called for short " Repuhlican," stood for the
principles known as "democratic," — the appellation of the
party itself since 1828. This was the school of Jefferson.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 395

erning power, including, together with that of
legislation, the granting of levies, the admission
of freemen, the disposal of public lands, and the
organization of courts. It had also a general
supervision over individuals, magistrates, and
courts, with power to revise decisions and to
mete out punishments. The Charter of 1662 did
not materially alter the laws and customs of the
government as previously established under
the Fundamental Orders, or the " first written
constitution." The Charter emphasized the ex-
ecutive, and began the segregation of the Upper
House or Council, since by it the " Particular
Court " of the founders became the Governor's
Council, serving upon like occasions, but requir-
ing the presence of at least six magistrates for
the transaction of business. The Particular
Court had consisted of the Governor or Deputy-
Governor, and three Assistants. In emergencies
occurring during adjournment of the General
Court, the Particular Court was to serve in
place of the larger body. After 1647 this spe-
cial court could consist of two or three magis-
trates who, in the absence of the Governor or
Deputy-Governor, chose one of their number to
act as moderator. After 1662 the formula of
the General Court "Be it ordered, enacted and
decreed " was changed to "Be it enacted by the

396 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Governor and Council and House of Represen-
tatives in General Court assembled." At the
regular session of the General Court or General
Assembly, the Councilors first sat as a separate
body in 1698. After the Declaration of Inde-
pendence this Upper House or Council became
the Senate, and for many years was referred to
under any one of the three names.

The power, of the General Court — this jum-
ble of legislative, executive, and judicial —
worked well so long as the community consisted
of a few hundred or a few thousand souls with
little diversity of sentiment or industrial inter-
est. It was not until the last quarter of the eigh-
teenth century that the inefficiency of the " first
written constitution " began to be felt. Then
there arose the need of a new constitution to
modify the body of laws and customs that had
grown up ; to destroy much of the erroneous
legislation that in effect perverted or nullified
their original intent ; and to furnish a constitu-
tional basis for the government of a larger and
less homogeneous people. Here and there a few
thoughtful men, irrespective of their church or
party, were beginning to apprehend the diffi-
culty of piloting a democratic state under the
old royal charter. The more prominent among
then] belonged to the Anti-Federal party, and

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 397

naturally they sought to expose the constitu-
tional difficulties which they believed impeded
progress.0

One of the earliest party tilts grew out of the
increase of new towns and the unequal develop-
ment of some of the older ones. Then as now,
though on a much smaller scale, the unit of town
representation threatened rotten boroughs and a
fictitious representation of the will of the major-
ity as represented by the delegates to the Lower
House. The state in 1786 had not recovered
from the exhaustion due to the Revolutionary
War, and the support of the many new deputies,
due to the increase of the towns, was a burden
which the October legislation of that year at-
tempted to lighten. With the object of cutting
down state expenses a bill was introduced into
the House to refer to the freemen some proposi-

a There were men of mark among- the Anti-Federalist
leaders, such as William Williams of Lebanon, a signer of the
Declaration, Gen. James Wadsworth of Durham, and Gen.
Erastus Wolcott of East Windsor, — these three were members
of the Council ; Dr. Benjamin Gale of Killing- worth, Joseph
Hopkins, Esq., of Waterbury, Col. Peter Bulkley of Col-
chester, Col. William Worthington of Saybrook, and Capt.
Abraham Granger of Suffield. At the ratification of the Con-
stitutution the vote stood 128 to 40. Afterwards for about ten
years, in the conduct of state politics, there was little friction,
for in local matters the Anti-Federalists were generally con-
servatives.

398 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

tion for reducing the number of their delegates
and for equalizing representation. Mr. James
Davenport of Stamford moved to substitute for
the billa another in which this reduction should
be made by the legislature without submitting
the proposed change to the freemen. This was
objected to on the groimd that a reduction of
delegates was a constitutional question, " the
Assembly having no right to alter the represen-
tation without authority given by their constit-
uents." The supporters of the bill contended
with Mr. Davenport that —

ice have no Constitution but the laws of the State.
The Charter is not the Constitution. By the Revo-
lution that was abrogated. A law of the State gave
a subsequent sanction to that which was before of no
force ; if that law be valid, any alteration made by a
later act will also be valid ; if not, we have no Con-
stitution, so denned, as to preclude the Legislature
from exercising any power necessary for the good of
the people.

The bill was carried over to the May session
of 1787, when it was defeated by sixty-two yeas
to seventy-five nays, the towns of Hartford, East

a Two deputies were allowed every town rated at $60,000.
In L785 Oliver Ellsworth had prepared a hill limiting towns of
£20,000 or under to one deputy. It passed the Senate, hut
was defeated in the House. — The Constitution of Connecticut,
1901, State Series, p. 105.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 399

Hartford, Berlin, Stamford and Woodbury favor-
ing it. A confidential letter of February, 1787,
from Dr. Gale, the probable author of " Brief,
decent but free Remarks or Observations on
Several Laws passed by the Honorable Legisla-
ture of the State of Connecticut since the year
1775, by a Friend to his Country," suggested
that in addition to the reduction of representa-
tives, laws should be passed forbidding any citi-
zen to hold, at the same time, more than one
place of public trust, either civil or military, and
also requiring an increase in the number of coun-
cilors, or senators, from the total of twelve to
three from each county .a Dr. Gale believed that
if these senators should be elected by each county,
and not upon a general ticket, the change would
be beneficial.195

In regard to the senators, the Fundamental
Orders prescribed that nominations for the mag-
istrates should be made by the towns through
their deputies to the fall session of the General

a In his pamphlet Dr. Gale advises that each town nomi-
nate one man, and from the nominations in each county, the
General Assembly elect two, four or six delegates from each
county to meet and frame a new constitution, since " any legis-
lature is too numerous a body, and too unskilled in the science
of government to properly perform such a task " (p. 29). —
J. Hammond Trumbull, Hist. Notes on the Constitution of
Conn., p. 17, and Wolcott's Manuscript in Mass. Hist. Soc. Col.
vol. iv.

400 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Court, and that the election should take place
the following spring at the Court of Elections.
As the life of the colony expanded, modifications
of this rule were made ; in time, vote by proxy
took the place of the freeman's presence at the
Court of Election. After 1689, the Assistants
to be nominated, twenty in number, were balloted
for in the fall town meetings. The sealed lists
were sent to the legislature, where they were
opened, and the ticket for the spring election
was made out from the twenty names receiving
the largest vote. The Court could no longer as
in earlier times add any new names. Hence,
the custom grew up of listing nominations, not
according to popularity, but first according to
seniority in office, and then according to the num-
ber of votes received. These lists were published
in the papers throughout the state. The candi-
dates for election were presented at the April
town meetings, where each name was read in
order and voted upon. A much later enactment
provided twelve ballots, and forbade any one to
cast more than twelve, whether for or against a
candidate or in blank. If a man held any one of
his slips in reserve for a more satisfactory can-
didate, he had none for the teller, and thus the
secrecy of the ballot was almost destroyed. New
candidates or those not up for reelection, whose

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 401

names appeared at the foot of the list, whatever
the number of votes received, were sometimes
kept waiting years for an election, until those
above them had died in office or resigned." For
instance, Jonathan Ingersoll received 4600 votes
in nomination in 1792, while the senior coun-
cilor, William Williams, had only 2000 ; yet
Williams's name was preferred, and Ingersoll's
had to wait over another year, when he was
again nominated and elected, and held his seat
from 1793 to 1798. An election was a wearisome
affair, and many men would not stay until the
voting upon the list was finished, preferring for
various reasons to cast an early ballot. The
natural tendency was to support the experienced
and known, even if indifferently efficient coun-
cilor, rather than to vote for an untried and
unfamiliar man whose name would come up later,
or even for popular men who could not be pro-
posed until far into the day. As a result the
party in power felt assured of their continu-
ance in office. Moreover, proxies for the election
were returned in April, but the result was not
announced until the legislature met in May, nor

a A similar method of election applied to the representa-
tives in Congress. Eighteen names were voted on in May for
nomination, of which the seven highest were listed for election
in September.

402 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

was there any supervision compelling an honest
count. Thus it was easy to keep in office Federal
candidates, and thus the Senate, or Council, cam^
to reflect public opinion about twenty years be-
hind the popular sentiment. Furthermore, the
clergy of the Establishment would get together
and talk matters over before the elections, and
the parish minister would endeavor to direct his
people's vote according to his opinion of what
was best for the commonwealth. This ministerial
influence was not shaken until about 1817.

There was still another grievance against the
Council besides that just mentioned. It had come
to be almost a Privy Council for advice and con-
sultation. Furthermore it was, until 1807, the
Supreme Court of the state to which lay appeals
in all cases, civil or criminal, where errors of law
had been committed in the trial courts. Its
twelve members were mostly, if not all, lawyers,
holding a tremendous power of patronage over
the members of the Lower House, many of whom
were also lawyers, eager for preferment ; over the
courts throughout the state, from which, since
1792, the old non-professional judges had been
debarred , and also over the militia, whose offi-
cers, from the earliest times, had been appointed
by the General Court. Further, the united action
of the two houses was necessary to pass or to

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 403

repeal a law, and thus much important legislation
centred upon a majority of seven in the Council.

Furthermore, at the opening of the nineteenth
century, the courts of law also were thought to
need reorganizing. The judges were declared
partisan, as they naturally would be under the
conditions of their appointment. The Republicans
could not meet the Federals upon an equal footing
in the state tribunals. They were disparaged in
their business relations, " were treated as a de-
graded party, and this treatment was extended to
all the individuals of the party however worthy
or respectable ; in fact as the Saxons were treated
by the Normans and the Irish by the English
government." 196

Because of these political conditions, early in
statehood, there were three schools of politicians ;
namely, those who approved a constitutional
convention, expressly called to frame a new con-
stitution ; those who wished such a convention
merely to amend the existing charter-constitu-
tion ; and those, until 1800, predominately in
the majority, who were convinced that whether
the state had a constitution or not was a most
frivolous and baneful question, mooted only by
" visionary theorists," or by those who were de-
sirous of a change, no matter how disastrous it
might be to good government. The conservative

404 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

party held that, since the charter had been drawn
according to the tenor of a draft submitted by
Winthrop and outlining the government accord-
ing to the Fundamental Orders, framed in 1639
by the " inhabitants and residents of Hartford,
Windsor and Wethersfield," the charter was
not a grant of privileges but an approval asked
and obtained for a government already existing.
Consequently, such government as had been
exercised before and was continued under the
charter was essentially a creation of the people.
It therefore needed only the declarative act of
the legislature to annul those clauses of the
charter that bound the colony to the crown and
to continue over into statehood the government
of the colonial period. Further, granting that
the separation from Great Britain annulled the
constitution, the subsequent conduct of the peo-
ple in assenting to, approving of, and acquies-
cing in such acts of the legislature, had established
and rendered those acts valid and binding, and
had given them all the force and authority of an
express contract.197 Such discussion of consti-
tutional questions, confined at first to the few,
spread among the many after Leland's attack
upon the charter, and were debated with great
earnestness. Leland's attack gained him, at the
time, comparatively few adherents, but it brought

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 405

the question of disestablishment fairly before the
people, demonstrating to the discontented that
there was very little hope for larger liberty, for
greater justice, until the power of legislation,
granted by the old charter, should be curtailed,
and the bond between Church and State severed.
The growth in Connecticut of the Democratic-
Republican party, outside its following among
Methodists, Baptists and a few radical thinkers,
was very slow. The Episcopalians were held in
much higher esteem by the Federal members of
the Establishment, or « Standing Order," as they
were called, than were the other dissenters. Yet
notwithstanding the wealth and conservatism of
the sect, they were looked at askance when it
came to giving them political office, for the old
dislike to a Churchman still lingered in New
England. Accordingly, they were somewhat dis-
satisfied at the treatment they received as polit-
ical allies of the Standing Order, and, in order
to quiet their incipient discontent, the government
thought best to occasionally extend some small
favor to them. So in 1799, the legislature
granted them a charter for a fund for their bishop
which they were trying to raise. About the same
time, Yale first conferred upon an Episcopal
clergyman the title of doctor of divinity. The
transfer of the annual fast day to coincide with

406 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Good Friday was appreciated by the Churchmen.
The change was first made in 1795, and came
about through Governor Huntington's friendship
for Bishop Seabury, and because of a desire to
remove from the public mind a misapprehension,
arising from the refusal of the Episcopal church
in New London to comply with President Wash-
ington's proclamation for a national Thanksgiv-
ing.0 From 1797 this change of fast-day became

a Bishop Seabury's church, St. James of New London, had
neglected to observe President Washington's proclamation of
a national thanksgiving on February 19, 1795, which fell in
Lent. This roused some antagonism, and was made the subject
of a sharp and rather censorious newspaper attack upon the
Episcopalians. At the same time a few Federal Congregation-
alists were further stirred by Bishop Seabury's signature, viz.
" Samuel, Bishop of Connecticut and Rhode Island," to a pro-
clamation that the prelate had issued, urging a contribution in
behalf of the Algerine captives. This signature was regarded
as a " pompous expression of priestly pride." Governor Hunt-
ington was a personal friend of Bishop Seabury. Moreover,
at this particular time, the congregation to which the Governor
belonged in Norwich was worshiping in the Episcopal church
during the rebuilding of their own meeting-house, which had
been destroyed by fire. The Governor had previously been
approached with a suggestion that the fasts and feasts of
the Congregationalists and Episcopalians should be made to
coincide, or at least that the annual fast day should not be ap-
pointed for any time between Easter Week and Trinity Sunday,
and that the public thanksgivings, when occasion required them,
should, if possible, not be appointed during Lent. In 17(.'-\ the
annual fast day would have fallen upon the Thursday in Holy
Week. In order to avoid laying any stress upon the sanctity of
certain days of the week, and because Governor Huntington

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 407

customary. It removed the long-standing com-
plaint that Presbyterian days of fasting or rejoi-
cing frequently occurred during Episcopal feasts
or fasts. At an earlier period, the ignoring of
such public proclamations was sometimes made
the occasion for imposing fines for the benefit of
the Establishment.

As has been said, the Republican gains were
greater among the Methodists and Baptists.
This was partly because not a few among these
dissenters associated Jefferson's party with his
efforts towards disestablishment in Virginia in
1785. Out of Connecticut's population of two
hundred and fifty thousand, the Republicans
counted upon recruits from the Methodist body,
numbering, in 1802, one thousand six hundred
and fifty-eight, and from the Baptists, approxi-
mating four thousand six hundred and sixty

wished to turn the public mind away from the petty contro-
versy, he appointed the fast day on Good Friday. In 1796, the
annual fast fell in the Lenten season. In 1797, in order to avoid
having the fast interfere with the regular sessions of the
County Courts, and at the same time to avoid its falling in
Easter week, Governor Trumbull appointed it again on Good
Friday. The arrangement was accepted with satisfaction by
the Episcopalians and with no objections from the Congrega-
tionalists, and thereafter it became the custom. (Bishop Sea-
bury had been elected to the bishopric of Rhode Island in
1790.) — William DeLoss Love, Jr., Fasts and Thanksgivings
of New England, pp. 346-361.

408 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

members. In 1798-1800 the division of the
Federalists over national issues strengthened
the Republicans in Connecticut, as they were the
successors to the Anti-Federalists, those " vision-
ary theorists " of 1786. The new Democratic-
Republican party received further additions to
their ranks through the opposition in Connecticut
to the Federal and obnoxious " Stand-up Law " of
1801. This law, which required a man to stand
when voting for the nomination of senators,
" was made to catch the secret vote of the Re-
publicans," 198 and revealed at once the opposition
of every dissenter, debtor, employee, or of any
one who had cause to fear injury to himself if
he gave an honest vote. It was passed by a com-
pact and reunited body of Federalists whose
boast was that no division upon national ques-
tions could affect their unity and strength in the
Land of Steady Habits.

The Republican-Democratic party in the state
would have gained recruits more rapidly had
it not been for its attitude as a national party
toward France. To appreciate the situation in
Connecticut, one must consider, first of all, the
influence of the French Revolution. One must
realize the intense interest, the mingled exul-
tation and terror with which conservatives who,
though they might differ in their religious pre-

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 409

ferences, were yet the rank and file of the state,
watched its varying aspects from its outbreak in
1789 on through the years of its earliest experi-
ments in statecraft, of its exaggerated exploita-
tion of " liberty, equality, and fraternity," and
of its casting off of all religious bonds and tram-
mels. As the Federal party lost its sympathy
with the French cause the attitude of the nation
changed. The consolidated factions of the Anti-
Federalists, however, increased their ardor for
the French republic, and took from 1792 the
name Democratic-Republican. They carried their
keen sympathy even to expressing their French
sentiments by their dress and manners. The
change in the national attitude was reflected in
Connecticut by the whole-hearted antipathy of
large numbers of her people to what they con-
sidered " radicalism of the most destructive
character." English Arianism and Arminianism,
with which the Edwardeans had waged war,
were nothing compared to the influx of French
infidelity and atheism which appeared to be
sweeping over the land. Books formerly guarded
by the clergy were on sale everywhere. They
found among the masses many like Aaron Burr,
who, during his period of study with Dr. Bel-
lamy, had preferred the logic of the printed
books upon the shelves to that of the master

410 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

who placed them there. Dr. Bellamy proposed
to confute the pernicious arguments of these
books, bringing them one by one before his select
body of students, so that they should be able to
guide their future parishioners when the insidious
poison of these dangerous authors, these " fol-
lowers of Satan," should force its way among
them.

All sects attempted to oppose such an influx
of irreligion. All but the Episcopalians fell back
upon revivals as their chief means. In these
revivals the Methodists and Congregationalists
were perhaps the most successful in securing
converts. The policy of the Episcopal church
did not favor this phase of religious life. It felt
that its whole attitude was a protest against ex-
aggerated liberty, or license, and against all athe-
istical ideas. During the revivals the Baptists,
also, added largely to their numbers. The Metho-
dists, however, brought to their revival meetings
the peculiar strength of fervent proselytes to a
new faith; of one rapidly becoming popular,
appealing strongly to the emotions, and having
a touch of martyrdom still clinging to its pro-
fession. Among those Federalists who were also
Congregationalists, the French He volution was
believed to be the " result of a combination long
since formed in Europe by infidels and atheists

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 411

to root out and effectually destroy religion and
civil government." Holding this opinion; see-
ing the Baptists and Methodists increasing in
importance, both in the nation and in the state ;
watching the continual increase of the unortho-
dox and of the freethinker, and perceiving the
growing loss of confidence in the Federal party
both in the nation and the state, the Standing
Order felt itself face to face with imminent peril.
It scented danger to itself and to the existence of
the commonwealth. But it sadly lacked a great
leader, until the year 1795, when it found one
in the recently elected president of Yale, the
Rev. Timothy Dwight. He was a grandson of
Jonathan Edwards, and was a man of amazing
energy, of varied training, and of great personal
charm.

In his experience Dr. Dwight counted a
college education, a theological training under
Jonathan Edwards, Jr., a tutorship at Yale, a
chaplaincy among the rough soldiers of the war
of the Revolution, home-life on his father's farm
at Northampton, where the men in the field vied
with each other " to rake or hoe beside Timothy "
in order to hear him talk. In political life Dr.
Dwight had served an apprenticeship in the
General Court of Massachusetts, where he sat as
deputy from Northampton. He had had experi-

412 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

ence as a preacher in several small towns, and
as pastor at Greenfield Hill, a part of Fairfield.
There he had added to his income by establishing
the Greenfield Academy for both sexes. Upon
accepting the presidency of Yale he became also
professor of theology, and in addition he took
under his special care the courses in rhetoric and
oratory. These last two, together with literature,
had, he thought, been entirely too much neg-
lected.0 His coming was a forecast of the man
of flie nineteenth century.199 Dr. Stiles had been
a fine type of the eighteenth. Dr. D wight was
a man of less acquirements in languages, but
he was a more accurate scholar, of broader in-
telligence, and with a mind well stocked and
ready. He had a pleasing power of expression,
was tactful, and could readily adapt himself to
men and circumstances. It was he who was
to give Yale its initial movement from college to
university. He himself was to become a cele-
brated teacher and theologian. He was to be one
of the founders of the New England school, whose
principles Dr. Taylor, in 1827, was to make

a Early in his career he had written a versification of the
Psalms, in 178S his Conquest of Canaan, and later Triumph of
Infidelity. President D wight taught the seniors rhetoric, logic,
ethics, and metaphysics, and the graduate students in theology.
In 1805 he was appointed to the professorship of the latter
study.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 413

known under the name of the New Haven Theo-
logy." In his own day Dr. Dwight was equally
celebrated as a power both in religion and poli-
tics. " Pope Dwight " his enemies termed him,
and they nicknamed his ministerial following his
"bishops," while they dubbed the Council or
Senators "his Twelve Cardinals."

Outside his college duties, and as a part of his
care for its spiritual welfare, President Dwight's
immediate purpose was to combine all forces that
could be used to stem the dangerous currents
rushing against the bulwarks of Church and
State. He had early favored the drawing to-
gether of Congregational and Presbyterian
bodies. He had discerned, as early as 1792, a
stirring of new life in the religious world, the
breaking down of the apathy of half a century
that had been indicated by revivals in places far
scattered, not only throughout New England but
in other states. Towns in Massachusetts, with
East Haddam and Lyme in Connecticut, had been
roused as early as the year named. That element
of personal experience which had been so marked
a feature of the Great Awakening reappeared,
but without that excessive emotionalism b which

a Dr. Dwight's Theology Explained was not published until
1818, after his death, and his Travels not until 1821-22.

b Except among the backwoodsmen of Kentucky in 1799-
1803.

414 THE ' DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

characterized the earlier revival. Nor was there
any such pronounced leadership as then. There
was the same conviction of sinfulness, the peace
after its acknowledgment, and the joyous satis-
faction in the determination to lead an upright
life, seeking God's grace and will. Recognition
of this spiritual awakening had in some measure
entered into the proposed disposal of the money
from the Western Lands, as it had also in the
discussion of the joint missionary work of 1791-
1794, and again in 1797-98,200 when the General
Association of Connecticut was incorporated as
the Connecticut Missionary Society.® In all of
these movements President Dwight had taken an
active part. Upon entering the presidency of Yale
he at once began a series of sermons, which he
delivered Suuday mornings, and which were so
arranged that in each four years the course was
complete. These lectures were his " Theology Ex-
plained and Defended," first published in 1818.
President Dwight, with the leading Presbyterian
or Congregational ministers, together with the
Methodist and Baptist clergy, continued to favor
the revival movement. This reached its height
in 1807. From beginning to end it lasted nearly

a The Society was granted a charter in 1802. In 1797 inter-
est in the missions was intensified by the free distribution of
seventeen hundred copies of the report of missionary work in
England and America.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 415

a quarter of a century, and was punctuated by
the revival years of 1798, 1800, and 1802, that
were especially fruitful of conversions in Con-
necticut. That of 1802 attracted large numbers
of the college students. The success of the re-
vivals was marked by increasing austerities, such
as the denunciation of amusements, both public
and private, and the revival of dead-letter laws
for the more strict observance of Sunday. Trav-
eling or driving was prohibited without a pass
signed by a justice of the peace. Travelers were
held up over " holy time." Attempts were made
to prevent the young people from gathering in
companies on Sunday evenings after the Sabbath
was legally over. Too much hilarity, though in-
nocent, was condemned. Such restrictions were
extremely distasteful to a large minority in the
state, and seemed to many citizens only re-
peated proofs of how closely the government and
the Presbyterian-Congregational church were
banded together. Accordingly the Republicans
began to think it was time to test the strength
of such a platform as they could put forth while
making a bid for the whole dissenting vote.
The election of Adams and Jefferson a in 1797

° The Rev. Jedidiah Champion of Litchfield, an ardent Fed-
eralist, on the Sunday following' the news of the election of
Adams and Jefferson, prayed fervently for the president-elect,

416 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

was a spur to both parties, lending hope to the
scattered Republicans, and prodding the recently
over-confident Federalists. In March, 1798, the
whole nation was roused almost to forgetfulness
of party lines by the anger created by the publi-
cation of the "XYZ Papers." A few months
later the Federal party, through its Alien and
Sedition laws, had lost its renewed hold upon the
nation. Connecticut denounced the Virginia and
Kentucky resolutions of 1798-99, and was to
all appearances stanchly Federal. But her lead-
ers were looking for another presidential candi-
date than Adams, while the Republicans, elate
with the anticipated national victory in 1800,
were making preparations to catch any and every
dissatisfied- voter in the state. The scattered
Republican clubs and committees awoke to new
activity. As Jefferson kept his party well in
hand, and let the national dissatisfaction increase
that he might rush to victory at the presidential
election of 1800, so the Connecticut Republi-
cans matured their plans. They did not formally
organize their party till 1800, first making sure
of their great leader as the nation's executive,

closing with the words, " O Lord ! wilt Thou bestow upon the
Vice-President a double portion of Thy grace, for Thou knowest
he needs ifr." This was mild, for Jefferson was considered by
the New England clergy to be almost the equal of Napoleon,
whom one of them named the " Scourge of God."

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 417

and almost of his reelection. Then they began
to urge the acceptance of their platform upon
the oppressed Connecticut dissenters, and to taunt
the Federal Episcopalians with an allegiance that
as late as 1802 had not been thought of sufficient
worth to warrant the small favor of a college
charter for their academy at Cheshire. The Fed-
eralists attempted to disarm the Episcopal dis-
satisfaction over the refusal by granting them a
license for a lottery to raise $15,000 for the
bishop's fund.

The leader of the Republicans in Connecticut
was Pierpont Edwards, a recently appointed
United States district judge. He was brother of
Jonathan Edwards, Jr., for years the pastor
of the North Church at New Haven, and in 1800
president of Union College. This Republican
leader was the maternal uncle of his opponent in
Federal state politics, President Dwight, and also
of the Republican Vice-President, Aaron Burr.
Another nephew of his was Theodore Dwight, the
brother of Yale's president, who led the Federal
civilians, and who was editor of the " Hartford
Courant," the organ of the Connecticut Feder-
alists. The Hartford " American Mercury "
voiced the sentiments of the Republicans. The
latter party throughout the state was formally
organized in 1800 at a meeting in New Haven,

418 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

the home of Mr. Edwards and of his henchman,
Abraham Bishop, son of that city's mayor.

The close personal relationship of the leaders,"
the scorn of the radicals, the abhorrence of the
conservatives for the principles, opinions, and
even, in some cases, habits of life of their oppo-
nents, entered into the strife and vituperation
of the political campaigns from 1800 to 1806.
Personalities were unsparing, passion rose high,
and speeches were bitter. This was particularly
the case in New Haven, where Abraham Bishop's
impudent boldness of attack and denimciation
was exaggerated by his father's position. Samuel
Bishop, the father, was a man of seventy-seven,
and old in the service of both Church and State.
He was senior deacon in the North Church, or
what was at that time known as the Church of

n Pierpont Edwards, b. April 8, 1750, graduated at Prince-
ton, 1768, died April 5, 182G.

Timothy Dwight, b. May 14, 1752, died January 11, 1817.

Aaron Burr, b. February 6, 1756, Vice-President 1801-05,
died September 14, 1836.

Theodore Dwight, b. December 15, 1754, educated for the law
under Pierpont Edwards, and practiced it for a time in New
York city with his cousin, Aaron Burr. He broke the partner-
ship because of difference in politics, and went to Hartford. He
became a member of the governor's council, 1809-1815 ; sec-
retary of the Hartford Convention, 1814. He established the
Connecticut Mirror in 1809 ; founded and conducted the Albany
Daily Advertiser, 1815-16, and the Daily Advocate, New York,
1816-36. He died June 12, 1S46.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 419

the United White Haven and Fair Haven Soci-
eties. He was also a justice of the peace, town
clerk, and mayor of the city. The last office was
held, according to the charter, during the plea-
sure of the legislature. Samuel Bishop was also
chief judge of the court of common pleas for New
Haven County, and sole judge of probate, annual
offices which the General Assembly had re-con-
ferred upon him in 1800 and in 1801. His son
was a graduate of Yale (1778). He was a law-
yer of somewhat indifferent practice, and from
1791 to 1798 clerk of the county court under
his father, while from 1798 he had been clerk
of the superior court. Before settling down to
practice at the bar he had lived abroad, and had
been caught in the whirl of French thought and
democratic ideas. He had returned home bearing
words of recommendation to Washington's secre-
tary of state from Jefferson's European friends.
A personal meeting with that party leader had
added to Bishop's enthusiasm. For some years
he had lived in Boston, and tried his hand at
literature. He had returned to New Haven in
1791, and had thrown himself into politics.
He purposely exaggerated his opinions. He was
careless of his unorthodox expressions even to
the verge of blasphemy. Though himself a be-
liever in God, he was perhaps what one would

420 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

probably have termed a little later a Unitarian.
His enemies exaggerated his exaggerations," —
and Unitarianism was a crime according to the
Connecticut statutes.0

In his speeches and essays Abraham Bishop
struck out boldly, with earnestness, logic, shrewd
wit, and irony, and, as has been said, at times
with dangerous irreverence, — often with down-
right impudence when that would serve his pur-
pose. An illustration of his extreme use of it
was in 1800, about the time of the organization
of the Republican party throughout the state.

He had been honored with the Phi Beta
Kappa oration, annually delivered on the eve
of the Yale Commencement, then in September.
A polished literary effort was expected. He
broke tradition, courtesy, and every implied ob-
ligation in the choice of his subject. In August
he sent to the committee his paper for their
acceptance or refusal. It was entitled " The
Extent and Power of Political Delusions," and
was an out and out campaign document. The
presidential election was due in November ! Fur-
ther, Bishop made political capital of the anti-

a The crimes against religion punishable by law were Blas-
phemy (by whipping-, fine, or imprisonment) ; Atheism, Poly-
theism, Unitarianism, Apostacy (by loss of employment,
whether ecclesiastical, civil, or military, for the first offense).
— Swift's System of Law, ii, 320, 321.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 421

cipated refusal of his paper, which was not sent
him until the eleventh hour. The readers of the
morning paper, wherein the committee offered an
apology for the change of speakers at the Society's
meeting to be held that night, were confronted
by the announcement that the refused address
would be given to all who cared to listen to it in
the parlors of the White Haven church that same
evening, and by the still further notice that
copies of it were fresh from the printer's hands
and were ready to be distributed to the remotest
parts of the state. Needless to state, the Phi
Beta Kappa audience dwindled away to swell
the crowd of fifteen hundred, wherein Bishop
gleefully counted " eight clergymen and many
ladies." The address met with great favor, and
the Wallingford Republicans at their celebra-
tion of March 11, 1801, in honor of the election
of Jefferson and Burr, asked Mr. Bishop to be
their orator.a

To top Bishop's insult, — as it was regarded
by every friend of the Standing Order, — came

a Oration delivered in Wallingford on the eleventh of March
1801, before the Republicans of the State of Connecticut at the
General Thanksgiving for the election of Thomas Jefferson to
the Presidency, and of Aaron Burr to the Vice-Presidency, of
the United States of America 1801.

See the appendix to the Oration for an account of the New
Haven episode.

422 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

in the following spring Jefferson's displacement
of Elizur Goodrich, President Adams's appointee
as collector of the port of New Haven, and the
substitution of Samuel Bishop. President Jef-
ferson considered himself at liberty to make this
change ; and all the more so because President
Adams had made the appointment as one of his
last official acts, when he must have known it
would have been unacceptable to the incoming
Republican administration. The merchants of
New Haven immediately united in a petition
to President Jefferson, in which they declared
that Samuel Bishop was too old to perform the
duties of the office, and, moreover, not acquainted
with accounts. Assuming that his son Abraham
would assist him, they denounced the latter as
" entirely destitute of public confidence, so con-
spicuous for his enmity to commerce and oppo-
sition to order, so odious to his fellow citizens,
that we presume his warmest partizans would
not have hazarded a recommendation of him."
Notwithstanding this protest the appointment
was continued, the President pointing out the
honors bestowed upon the father and the care
with which he, Jefferson, had investigated the
case before acting upon it. Reproving the au-
thorities for so long excluding the Republicans
entirely from office, Jefferson expressed his

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 423

regret at finding upon his accession to the presi-
dency not even a " moderate participation in
office in the hands of the majority." He further
stated that when such a situation was in some
measure relieved he would be only too glad to
make the question " Is he capable ? Is he hon-
est ? Is he faithful to the Constitution ? " the
only tests for obtaining and holding office. Sam-
uel Bishop died in 1803, and the collectorship
was then bestowed upon his son, who held it until
his death in 1829.

In Connecticut the two political parties pre-
pared for conflict. The Republicans desired a
new constitution and disestablishment. The old
constitutional and religious debates were opened
and fiercely fought out in pamphlet, press, ser-
mon, and political oration. Noah Webster re-
plied to the " Extent and Power of Political
Delusion" by "A Rod for the Fool's Back."
John Leland published his famous Hartford
speech as " A Blow at the Root, a fashionable
Fast-Day Sermon," and his " High Flying
Churchman," as contributions in behalf of civil
and religious liberty. Abraham Bishop took up
the latter topic in his " Wallingford Address,
Proofs of a Conspiracy Against Christianity and
the Government of the United States," published
in 1802, as well as in his " Extent and Power of

424 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

Political Delusion" of 1800. A fair type of
Mr. Bishop's style and treatment is shown in his
" Connecticut Republicanism," a campaign docu-
ment, wherein he sets forth his opinion of the
union of Church and State.a

In his campaign document under the title
" Connecticut Republicanism" Bishop declared:

Christianity has suffered more by the attempts to
unite church and state than by all the deistical writ-
ings, yet the men who denounce them are pronounced
atheists and no proof of their atheism is required but
their opposition to Federal measures. . . . Church
and state cannot be better served than by keeping
them distinct and by placing them where they ought
to be, above, instead of beneath the control of men
who care no more for either of them than they can
turn to their personal benefit. The self-styled friends
of order have in all nations been the cause of all
the convulsions and distresses which have agitated
the world. . . . The clergyman preaches politics, the
civilian prates of orthodoxy, and if any man refuse
to join their coalition they endeavor to hunt him
down to the tune " The Church is in danger." . . .
In 1787 this visible intolerance had abated in New
England ; there was no written law in force that none
but church-members should be free burgesses : yet

a " Connecticutensis," or David Daggett, also replied in
Three Letters to Abraham Bishop. Theodore Dwight's Ora-
tion at New Haven before the Society of the Cincinnati, July 7,
1S01, took up the constitutionality of the charter government.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 425

the avowed charge of Christ's church was in our law-
books, some nice points of theology were settled in
our statutes and the common law of church and state
was in full force. . . . The Trinitarian doctrine is
established by laws, and the denial of it is placed
in the rank of felony. Though we have ceased to
transplant from town to town Quakers, New Lights,
and Baptists ; yet the dissenters from our prevailing
denominations are even at this moment praying for
a repeal of those laws which abridge the rights of
conscience.

Break the league of church and state which first
subjugates your consciences, then treating your un-
derstanding like galley slaves, robs you of religion
and civil freedom. . . . Thirty thousand freemen
are against the union of church and state. Thirty
thousand more men, deprived of voting because they
are not rich or learned enough, are ready to join
them.201

In his " Wallingford Address," Bishop ex-
claims " The clerical politician is a useless
preacher ; the political Christian is a dangerous
statesman." On the title page of this address
appeared the epigram, " Our statesmen to the
Constitution ; our Clergy to the Bible." The
unfortunately irreverent parallel which Bishop
drew between the Saviour of the world and the
leader of the national Republican party, or of

426 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

the democracy or common people, gave to the
epigram an evil significance not intended, and to
its author a reputation not wholly deserved.

David Daggett, a prominent New Haven Fed-
eralist and lawyer,0 tried in " Facts are Stubborn
Things " to refute the charge that the people
were priest-ridden, the legislature arbitrary and
tyrannical, the clergy bigots. In the course of
his argument he gives an account of the recep-
tion of a Baptist petition which, voicing the
smouldering discontent that was kept burning
by the certificate law, had been presented to the
legislature. Daggett charged the Republicans
with instituting the custom of holding their party
meetings in Hartford and New Haven at the time
of the meeting of the Assembly in those cities,
and of making the political gathering a means of
directing what topics should be brought up for
discussion in the House of Representatives, and
what discussed in their party organ the " Amer-
ican Mercury." Daggett accused the Republi-
cans of purposely choosing subjects of discus-
sion of an inflammable character, and declared
that it was in Babcock's paper (so called from
its editor) that the Baptist petition originated,
which, circulated through the state, received
some three thousand signatures, " many of whom

a Later chief justice.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 427

doubtless sought the public good." 202 The peti-
tion was presented for trial in 1802 and a day
set for its hearing, upon which Mr. Pierpont
Edwards and Mr. Gideon Granger were to
advocate it. The gentlemen, according to Mr.
Daggett's account, did not appear, and of course
no trial was held. Instead, the Assembly referred
it to a committee of eighteen from the two
houses. Mr. Daggett insisted that " it was
thoroughly canvassed, and every gentleman pro-
fessed himself entirely satisfied that there was no
ground of complaint which the Legislature could
remove, except John T. Peters, Esq., who de-
clared that nothing short of an entire repeal of
the law for the support of religion would accord
with his idea."

The truth of the matter was that the committee
were chiefly Federalists. Mr. Peters was a Re-
publican. In their answer to the petition, the
committee assumed that it " was an equitable
principle, that every member of the society should,
in some way, contribute to the support of reli-
gious institutions and so the complaint of those
who declined to support any such institution was
invalid." If there was ground for complaint
because of sequestration of property for the ben-
efit of Presbyterians only, the committee failed
to find any such cause, and if such existed, the

428 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

proper channel of appeal was through the courts.
All other complaints in the petition were con-
sidered to be answered by the assumption that
the legislature had the right, on the ground of
utility, to compel contributions for the support
of religion, schools, and courts, whether or not
every individual taxpayer had need of them. The
next year, 1803, the petition gained a hearing,
but that was all. It continued to be presented
at every session of the Assembly, and was first
heard by both houses in 1815. It was finally with-
drawn at the session that passed the bill for the
new constitution of 1818.

As one of the preliminary steps in the educa-
tion of the people in Republican principles and
aims, John Strong of Norwich in 1804 founded
the " True Republican," thus giving a second
paper for the dissemination of Republican opin-
ions. From 1792 the "Phenix or Windham
Herald " had been dealing telling blows at the
Establishment and at the courts of law through
a discussion in its columns carried on by Judge
Swift, the inveterate foe of the union of Church
and State, and a lawyer, frank to avow that par-
tiality existed in the administration of justice.
Though both the paper and the judge were
strongly Federal in their politics, they were both
materially helping the Republican advocates of

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 429

reform. From the Windham press came, also, a
republication of " A Review of the Ecclesiastical
Establishments of Europe," edited by R. Hunt-
ington, with special reference to the bearing of its
arguments upon the conditions existing in Con-
necticut, where illustration could be found of the
absurdities and dangers that the book had been
originally written to expose. In 1803 John Le-
lancl, representing forty-two Baptist clergymen,
twenty licensed exhorters, four thousand commu-
nicants, and twenty thousand attendants, sent
out another plea for disestablishment in his " Van
Tromp lowering his Peak with a Broadside, con-
taining a Plea for the Baptists of Connecticut."
In it he urges that thirteen states have already
granted religious liberty, and that many of
them have formed newer constitutions since the
Revolution. Such should also be the case in
Connecticut. Moreover, it could readily be
accomplished at the small cost of five cents per
man. Such a small sum would pay the expenses
of a convention to formulate a constitution and
another to ratify it, while five cents more per
person would furnish every citizen with a copy of
the proposed document, so that each could decide
for himself upon the constitutionality of any
measure proposed, and would no longer be obliged
to read pamphlet after pamphlet or column after

430 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

column in the newspaper to determine its valid-
ity.203

All this was preparatory ; and the first purely
political note of warning- and call to battle for a
new constitution was sounded by Abraham Bishop
at Hartford, May 11, 1804, in his " Oration in
Honor of the Election of President Jefferson
and the peaceful acquisition of Louisiana." He
sums up the situation thus : —

Connecticut has no Constitution. On the day inde-
pendence was declared, the old charter of Charles II
became null and void. It was derived from royal
authority, and went down with royal authority. Then,
the people ought to have met in convention and framed
a Constitution. But the General Assembly interposed,
usurped the rights of the people, and enacted that the
government provided for in the charter should be
the civil constitution of the State. Thus all the abuses
inflicted on us when subjects of a crown, were fastened
on us anew when we became citizens of a free repub-
lic. We still live under the old jumble of legislative,
executive and judicial powers, called a Charter. We
still suffer from the old restrictions on the right to
vote ; we are still ruled by the whims of seven men.
Twelve make the council. Seven form a majority,
and in the hands of these seven are all powers, legis-
lative, executive and judicial. Without their leave no
law can pass ; no law can be repealed. On them more
than half of the House of the Assembly is dependent

LIBERTY IN" CONNECTICUT 431

for re-appointments as justices, judges, or for promo-
tion in the militia. By their breath are, each year,
brought into official life six judges of the Superior
Court, twenty-eight of the probate, forty of county
courts, and five hundred and ten justices of the peace,
and, as often as they please, all the sheriffs. Not
only do they make laws, but they plead before jus-
tices of their own appointment, and as a Court of
Errors interpret the laws of their own making. Is
this a Constitution ? Is this an instrument of govern-
ment for freemen ? And who may be freemen ? No
one who does not have a freehold estate worth seven
dollars a year, or a personal estate on the tax list of
one hundred and thirty-four dollars. . . . For these
evils there is but one remedy, and this remedy we
demand shall be applied. We demand a constitution
that shall separate the legislative, executive and judi-
cial power, extend the freeman's oath to men who
labor on highways, who serve in the militia, who pay
small taxes, but possess no estates.20*

Abraham Bishop threw down the gauntlet,
and in the following July his party issued a cir-
cular letter. It emanated from the Republican
General Committee, of which Pierpont Edwards
was chairman. It stated "that many very re-
spectable Republicans are of the opinion that
it is high time to speak to the citizens of Con-
necticut plainly and explicitly on the subject of
forming a constitution ; but this ought not to be

432 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

done without the approbation of the party."
A general meeting was proposed to be held in
New Haven on August 29, 1804. In response,
ninety-seven towns sent Republican delegates to
assemble at the state house in New Haven on
that date. Major William Judd of Farmington
was chosen chairman. The meeting was held
with closed doors, and a series of resolutions
was passed in favor of adopting a new constitu-
tion. It was declared "the unanimous opinion
of this meeting that the people of this state are
at present without a constitution of civil gov-
ernment," and " that it is expedient to take
measures preparatory to the formation of the
Constitution and that a committee be appointed
to draft an Address to the People of this State
on that subject." The address reported by this
committee was printed in New Haven on a small
half-sheet with double columns, and ten thou-
sand copies were ordered distributed through the
state.

The issue was fairly before the people. From
the Federal side, just before the September elec-
tions, came David Daggett's " Count the Cost,"
in which he ably reviewed the Republican mani-
festo, impugning the motives of the leaders of
the Republican party, and eloquently urging
every friend of the Standing Order and every

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 433

freeman to " count the cost " before voting with
the Republicans for the proposed reform.

The fall election of 1804 was lost to the Re-
publicans, for while they made many gains here
and there throughout the state,® the immediate
slight access to the Federal ranks showed that
the people generally were not yet ready for a
constitutional change.

As one result of the defeat at the polls, there
arose a wider sympathy for the defeated party.
When the legislature met in October, the Fed-
eral leaders resolved to administer punishment
to the defeated Republicans. So strong was the
popular feeling, and so determined the attitude
of the legislature, that it summoned before it
all five of the justices of the peace b who had
attended the New Haven convention of August
29, to show why they did not deserve to be de-
prived of their commissions. Their oath of office
ran " to be true and faithful to the Governor
and Company of this state, and the Constitution
and government thereof." What right, the Fed-
erals asked, had they to attack a constitution
they had sworn to uphold ? At the same time,

a Windham County was steadily Republican after this elec-
tion.

b Major William Judd of Farming-ton, Jabez H. Tomlinson
of Stratford, Augur Judson of Huntington, Hezekiah Goodrich
of Chatham, and Nathaniel Manning of Windham.

434 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

several of the militia, known to be of Republi-
can sympathies, were also deposed or superseded.
Mr. Pierpont Edwards was allowed to make
the defense for the justices. Mr. Daggett ap-
peared for the state. Reviewing the proceedings
of the Republican meeting, Mr. Daggett traced
the history of the government of the colony
and state in order to demonstrate that the char-
ter was peculiarly a constitution of the people,
" made by the people and in a sense not appli-
cable to any other people." He declared the
New Haven " address " an outrage upon de-
cency, and it to be the duty of the Assembly to
withdraw their commissions from men who ques-
tioned the existence of the constitution under
which they held them. The day after the hear-
ing, a bill to revoke the commissions was passed
unanimously by the governor and council, and
by a majority of eleven in the Lower House, the
vote standing 67 yeas to 56 nays. This attempt
to stifle public opinion won a general acknow-
ledgment that the minority were oppressed.
The feeling of sympathy thus roused was in-
creased by the death of Major Judd, who had
been taken ill after his arrival in New Haven.
His partisans asserted that his death was caused
by his efforts to save himself and friends, and
his consequent obligation to appear at the trial

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 435

when really too ill to be about. The day after
his death, the Republicans published and dis-
tributed broadcast his " Address to the people
of the State of Connecticut on the subject of
the removal of himself and four other justices
from office."

From this time forward the minority thor-
oughly realized that it was " not a matter of
talking down but of voting down their oppo-
nents." Their leaders also understood it. Bishop
.entered the lists, not only against his political
antagonist David Daggett, but against such men
as Professor Silliman, Simeon Baldwin, Noah
Webster, Theodore Dwight, and against the
clergy, led by President Dwight, Simon Backus,
Isaac Lewis, John Evans, and a host of sec-
ondary men who turned their pulpits into lec-
ture desks and the public fasts and feasts into
electioneering occasions. Their general plea was
that religion preserved the morals of the people,
and consequently their civil prosperity, and
hence the need for state support. Occasionally
one would insist that it was a matter of con-
science with the Presbyterians which made them
enforce ecclesiastical taxes and fines, and that
all had been given the dissenters that could be ;
that the Presbyterians had " yielded every privi-
lege they themselves enjoyed and subjected them

436 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

(the dissenters) to no inconvenience, not abso-
lutely indispensable to the countenance of the
practice" (of dissent). David Daggett main-
tained that there was a just and wide-spread
alarm lest the Republicans should undermine all
religion, and therefore it behooved all the friends
of stable government to support the Standing
Order.

The Republicans vigorously contested the
elections of 1804, 1805, and 1806. Their second
general convention, that of August, 1806, at
Litchfield, was more outspoken in its criticism,
and so much bolder in its demands that many
conservative people hesitated to follow its pro-
gramme. The Republican gains were so small
that after 1806 there was a lull in the agitation
for constitutional reform for some years. It was
well understood that the religious establishment
was the greatest clog upon the government. It
was also thoroughly understood by many that its
destruction meant the destruction of the Federal
party in Connecticut. Consequently the Fed-
eral patronage distributed the several thousand
offices within the gift of Church and State with a
" liberality equalled only by the fidelity with
which they were paid for." So firm was the
Federal control over the state that even in 1804
they risked antagonizing the Episcopalians by

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 437

again refusing to charter the Cheshire Academy
as a college with authority to confer degrees in
art, divinity, and law. In the face of a strong
protest, it was refused again in 1810. The
House approved this last petition, but the Coun-
cil rejected it. Naturally, the Episcopalians felt
still more aggrieved when in 1812 the charter
was once more refused ; but still they did not
desert the Federal party. The latter clung to
the spoils of office for their partisans, to the old
restrictive franchise, and to the obnoxious Stand-
up Law, nor were they less disdainful of the dis-
senters and of the Republican minority.

Yet many of their best men had come to feel that
there was wrong and injustice done the minority ; that
there should be a stop put to the open ignoring of
Democratic lawyers, numbering in their ranks many
men of wide learning and of great practical ability ;
that the spectacle of a Federal state-attorney prosecut-
ing Republican editors was not edifying, and that the
imprisonment of such offenders and their trial before
a hostile judiciary opened that branch of the state
government to damaging and dangerous suspicion.205

In July, 1812, a meeting was called in Judge
Baldwin's office in New Haven, with President
D wight in the chair, to organize a Society for
the Suppression of Vice and the Promotion of
Good Morals. At this meeting the political sit-

438 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

uation was thoroughly discussed, and measures
were taken to cope with it.

I am persuaded [wrote the Rev. Lyman Beecher
to Rev. Asahel Hooker in the following November]
that the time has come when it becomes every friend
of the State to wake up and exert his whole influence
to save it from innovation. . . . That the effort to
supplant Governor Smith" will be made is certain
unless at an early stage the noise of rising opposition
will be so great as to deter them ; and if it is made,
a separation is made in the Federal party and a
coalition with Democracy, which will in my opinion be
permanent, unless the overthrow by the election should
throw them into despair or inspire repentance.

If we stand idle we lose our habits and institutions
piecemeal, as fast as innovations and ambitions shall
dare to urge on the work.

My request is that you will see Mr. Theodore
Dwight, expressing to him your views on the subject,
. . . and that you will in your region touch every
spring, lay or clerical, which you can touch prudently,
that these men do not steal a march upon us, and that
the rising opposition may meet them early, before
they have gathered strength. Every blow struck now
will have double the effect it will after the parties are
formed and the lines drawn. I hope we shall not act
independently, but I hope we shall all act, who fear
God or regard men.206

Writing of the meeting to organize the Society

a Federalist.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 439

for the Suppression of Vice and the Formation
of Good Morals, Dr. Beecher in his "Auto-
biography" gives a sketch of the politics of
the time that had led up to -the occasion. One
of the prominent actors of the time, he tells us
that this meeting, composed of prominent Feder-
alists of all classes, was unusual, for —

it was a new thing in that day for the clergy and
laymen to meet on the same level and co-operate. It
was the first time there had ever been such a consulta-
tion in our day. The ministers had always managed
tilings themselves, for in those days the ministers
were all politicians. They had always been used to
it from the beginning. . . . On election day they had
a festival, and, fact is, when they got together they
would talk over who should be Governor, and who
Lieutenant-Governor, and who in the Upper House,
and their councils would prevail. Now it was a part
of the old steady habits of the state . . . that the
Lieutenant-Governor should succeed to the governor-
ship. And it was the breaking up of this custom by
the civilians, against the influence of the clergy, that
first shook the stability of the Standing Order and
the Federal party in the state. Lieutenant Governor
Treadwell (1810) was a stiff man, and the time had
come when many men did not like that sort of thing.
He had been active in the enforcement of the Sabbath
laws, and had brought on himself the odium of the
opposing party. Hence of the civilians of our party,
David Daggett and other wire-pullers, worked to

440 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

have him superseded, and Roger Griswold, the ablest
man in Congress, put in his stead. That was rank
rebellion against the ministerial candidate. But Dag-
gett controlled the whole of Fairfield County bar, and
Griswold was a favorite with the lawyers, and the
Democrats helped them because they saw how it would
work ; so there was no election by the people, and
Tread well was acting Governor till 1811, when Gris-
wold was chosen. The lawyers, in talking about it,
said : " We have served the clergy long enough ; we
must take another man, and they must look out for
themselves." Throwing Treadwell over in 1811 broke
the charm and divided the party ; persons of third-
rate ability on our side who wanted to be somebody
deserted ; all the infidels in the state had long been
leading on that side . . . minor sects had swollen
and complained of certificates. Our efforts to reform
morals by law were unpopular." Finally the Episco-
palians went over to the Democrats.

" " To preserve our institutions and reform public morals,
to bring back tbe keeping1 of tbe Sabbath was our aim. . . We
tried to do it by resuscitating and enforcing the law (That was
our mistake, but we did not know it then.) and wherever I
went I pushed that thing ; Bear up the laws — execute the laws.
. . . We took hold of it in the Association at Fairfield, June,
1814, . . . recommending among other things a petition to
Congress." (Autobiography,!, 268.) At this meeting originated
the famous petition against Sunday mail.

Dr. Beecher urged a domestic missionary society to build up
waste places in Connecticut. His sermon " Reformation of
Morals practicable and desirable " warned against " profane
and profligate men of corrupt minds and to every good work
reprobate."

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 441

The Episcopal split was clue to a foolish and
arbitrary proceeding on the part of the Federals.
In the spring of 1814, a petition was presented
to the General Assembly for the incorporation
of the Phoenix Bank of Hartford, offering " in
conformity to the precedents in other states, to
pay for the privilege of the incorporation herein
prayed for, the sum of sixty thousand dollars to
be collected (being a Premium to be advanced
by the stockholders) as fast as the successive in-
stalments of the capital stock shall be paid in ;
and to be appropriated, if in the opinion of your
Honors it shall be deemed expedient, in such
proportion as shall by your Honors be thought
proper, to the use of the Corporation of Yale
College, of the Medical Institution, established
in the city of New Haven, and to the corporation
of the Trustees of the Fund of the Bishop of the
Episcopal church in this state, or for any purpose
whatever, which to your Honors may seem best."
The capital asked for was 11,500,000. « The
purpose of this offer a was a double one, — creat-
ing an interest in favor of the Bank Charter
among Episcopalians and retaining their in-
fluence on the side of the Charter Govern-
ment, as there was no inconsiderable amount
of talent among them." The Bishop's Fund,

a Judge Church.

442 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

slowly gathering since 1799, amounted to barely
#6000. This bonus would give it a good start,
and conciliate the Episcopalians, still indignant
at the refusal of the Assembly to incorporate
their college. When presented to the Assembly,
the Lower House favored the bank charter ;
the Council, rejecting it, appointed a committee
to consider its request. They soon originated
an act of incorporation, granting a capital of
11,000,000, and ordered the bonus to be paid
into the treasury. An act of incorporation, rather
than a petition, was, they claimed, the way es-
tablished by custom of granting bank charters.
The same session of the legislature originated
bills giving $20,000 to the Medical Institution
of Yale College, and one of the same amount to
the Bishop's Fund, " in conformity to the offer
of the petitioners for the Phoenix Bank, and out
of the first moneys received from it as a bonus."
The bill for the medical school was passed unan-
imously by the House ; that for the Bishop's
Fund uniformly voted down.0 The Episcopalians,

a The final speech in favor of the bill was made by Nathan
Smith, a lawyer of New Haven. When he had finished his
eloquent setting forth of the benefits and dangers attendant
upon passing the bill, there was an unusual and solemn silence.
Dr. Gillett says if the bill had been promptly put to vote it
would probably have been passed, but the churchlike silence
was broken by a shrill voice piping forth, " Mr. Speaker, Mr.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 443

to wham the Republicans were quick to offer their
sympathy, asserted that by the " grant to Yale
the legislature had committed themselves in good
faith to make the grant to the two other corpo-
rations connected with it in the same petition." °
Stripped of formal and courteous wording, the
petition, both in letter and in spirit, had offered
its conditions to all, if accepted by one; or, if
refused at all, the opportunity to divert the money
from all three recipients to some other and quite
different use which should be approved by the
legislature.

The further bad faith of both branches of the
Assembly increased the enmity of the Episco-
palians. In the spring of 1815, they petitioned
for their first installment of $ 10,000. They were
told that the treasury was empty, and that war
time was no time to attend to such matters. In
the fall, in answer to their second petition, they
found the Lower House still hostile ; the major-
ity of the Council, including the governor, in
their favor, until the discussion came up, when
the Council, with one exception, sided with the
House. The explanation of the change appeared

Speaker, what shall we sing ? " The laughter which followed
broke the orator's charm and sealed the fate of the bill.

a See Columbian Register of June 17, 1820, for a full account
of the Bishop's Fund and the final award of the bonus.

444 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT

to the Episcopalians to be due to the fact that
during the session the Medical School had peti-
tioned for the balance of the $30,000, and seemed
likely to receive it at the spring meeting. This
was too much for the Episcopalians, and there-
after the Democrats claimed nine tenths of their
vote. The sect was estimated in 1816 to contain
from one eleventh to one thirteenth of the popula-
tion. The Democratic-Republicans had won over
discontented radicals, a majority of the dissatis-
fied dissenters, a few conservatives, and now the
indignant Episcopalians. Their political hopes
rose higher, but the War of 1812-1814 interfered,
substituting national interests for local ones, yet
all the while adding recruits to the Republican
ranks, so that at its close there was a strong
party. There was also a Federal faction in pro-
cess of disintegration. The result was that when
the constitutional reform movement again became
the issue of the day, though supported by the
Republicans, the question at issue soon drew to
itself a new political combine which under vari-
/ ous forms kept the name of the Toleration Party,
and which eventually won the victory for reli-
gious freedom and disestablishment.

CHAPTER XV

DISESTABLISHMENT
No distinction shall I make between Trojan and Tyrian.

The Federal grip upon Connecticut, one of the
last strongholds of that party, was weakening.
Preceding the deflection of the Episcopalians in
Connecticut, there had been throughout New
England a strong Federal opposition to the na-
tional government and its commands during the
War of 1812. Such conduct had shattered party-
prestige, and when its opposition culminated in
the Hartford Convention of 1814, it wrote its
own death-warrant. The Republicans, on the
contrary, had dropped local questions of consti-
tutional reform and religious liberty, preferring
to bend all their energies to the support of the
general government. When as a national party
they humbled England and brought the war to
a victorious close, the contrast of their loyalty
to state and national interests steadily drew the
popular favor. In the era of good feeling and
prosperity that followed, the great national polit-

446 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

ical parties dissolved somewhat and crystallized
anew. In Connecticut a similar change took
place in local politics. In the years immediately
following the war, the Democratic-Republicans,
the majority of the dissenters, and the dissatis-
fied among the Federalists, formed different co-
alitions that, under the general name of Toler-
ation,'7 opposed the Standing Order. In 1816 the
agitation for constitutional reform was revived,
and after three years resulted in the overthrow
of the Federalists and the triumph of a peaceful
revolution whereby religious liberty was assured.
The conduct of the Federal party, both within
and without Connecticut from 1808 to 1815,
was quite as much the real cause of their down-
fall in the state as that coalition between clergy
and lawyers described by Dr. Beecher as causing
the breakdown of party machinery and its ulti-
mate ruin. Glancing somewhat hastily at some
of the most far-reaching acts of the Federalists,
we find first the Federal opposition to the em-
bargo that from December 22, 1807, for over a
year paralyzed New England commerce. In
February, 1809, John Quincy Adams, who had
recently resigned the Massachusetts senatorship
because of his unpopular support of the embargo,

a Party names were " American," "American and Tolera-
tion," "Toleration and Reform."

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 447

informed President Jefferson that the measure
could no longer be enforced. He assured the
President that the New England Federalist
leaders, privily encouraged by England, were
preparing to break that section off from the
union of the states if the embargo were not
speedily repealed. This information, whether
accurate or not, so influenced the President and
his advisers that the Non-intercourse Act, apply-
ing only to France and England, replaced the
embargo, whose repeal took effect from March 4,
1809. In the following December, Madison's
administration (in the belief that France had
withdrawn her hostile decrees) limited non-inter-
course to England alone, after having vainly
urged upon her a repeal of her Orders in Coun-
cil. With the embargo lifted, New England
commerce revived, and Connecticut seamen, Con-
necticut farmers,0 Connecticut merchants, to-
gether with artisans of all the allied industries
that were called upon in the fitting out of ships
and cargoes, enjoyed two years of prosperity.
The period was given over to money-getting, and
the ordinary rules of national or commercial
honesty were flung to the winds. Napoleon sold
licenses to British vessels to supply his famish-

« Three fourths of Connecticut's exports were products of
agriculture.

448 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

ing soldiers stationed in continental ports, while
forged American and British papers were openly
sold in London. So enormous were the profits
of a successful voyage that the possibility of
capture only added zest to the American ven-
tures and contributed not a little to the daring
of the privateers in the years of the war. So
enriched was the state that by May, 1811, Con-
necticut had so far recovered from her late finan-
cial distress that the " state owed no debt and
every tax was paid," while her exports were:
domestic, 1994,216; foreign, $38,138, or a total
of $1,032,354.

The ninety days' embargo of 1812, the decla-
ration of war (June 18, 1812), and the patrolling
of Long Island Sound by a British fleet, brought
such desolation to Connecticut that ships again
lay rotting at the wharves, ropewalks and ware-
houses were deserted, cargoes were without car-
riers, and seamen were either scattered or idling
about, a constant menace to the public peace.
National taxes to support a detested war were
laid upon the people at a time when their in-
comes were ceasing, and their homes and pro-
perty were laid bare to a plundering enemy. " A
nation without fleets, without armies, with an
impoverished treasury, with a frontier by sea and
land extending many hundreds of miles, feebly

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 449

defended " by fortifications old and neglected,
had rushed headlong into war with the strongest
nation of the earth without " counting the cost."
Such was the opinion of the Federalists every-
where and, at first, of the large wing of the Re-
publican party who preferred peace. The Fed-
eralists of Connecticut, when they saw a small
majority sweep the nation into the conflict with
Great Britain, believed the war threatened lib-
erty of speech. They feared military despotism,
when the general government demanded the
control of the militia ; and that the war would
prostrate " their civil and religious institutions
by increasing taxation and loss of income."0
They feared " national dismemberment" when
the war measures, together with the presence of
the British fleet blockading the coast, alternately
angered the people almost to rebellion against an
apparently indifferent central government, or
drove them into plans for self-defense. Much
of the opposition in New England is in part ac-
counted for by the rebound towards Federalism
which the declaration of the war caused, and by

a u All institutions, civil, literary and ecclesiastical, felt the
pressure, and seemed as if they must be crushed. Our schools,
churches and government even, in the universal impoverish-
ment, were failing and the very foundations were shaken, when
God interposed and took off the pressure." — Lyman Beecher,
Autobiography, i, 266.

450 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

the belief that the national election of 1812
would be a Federal victory. Though it turned
out to be a defeat, it consolidated and so strength-
ened that party in New England that before the
close of 1813 all the state executives were Fed-
eralists and were arrayed against the administra-
tion. The Republicans kept their hold upon
the minority, partly by the diversion of the
capital, thrown out of the carrying trade, into
privateer ventures, war supplies, and manufac-
tures.

At the beginning of the war, Governor Gris-
wold, of Connecticut, backed by both houses of
the legislature, joined with Governor Strong
of Massachusetts (supported only by the House
of Representatives) in a refusal to place the mili-
tia under regular officers of the United States
army. They refused also to allow the quotas
called for by General Dearborn (under the Act
of Congress of April 10, 1812), for the expedi-
tion against Canada, to leave the state. These
executives claimed that the troops were not needed
to execute the laws of the United States, to sup-
press insurrection, or to repel invasion, — the only
three constitutional reasons giving the President
the right to consider himself " commander in
chief of the militia of the several states." 20r By
taking such a stand, the state governors assumed

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 451

to decide whether a necessity existed that gave
the President his constitutional right to call out
the militia. Mr. Henry Cabot Lodge, in his
" Memoir of Governor Strong," exonerates that
executive by pleading his intense convictions of
duty, his loyal patriotism, and his later efficient
aid a in defending the eastern coast of the state.
Mr. Lodge reminds his reader that the gov-
ernor's position was supported by the best law-
yers, whom he had been at great pains to consult
concerning state and federal rights, which, at
that period, had not been so carefully examined
and discriminated between as since. The same
pleas may be urged for Governors Griswold b and
Smith. The Connecticut legislature immediately
passed an act for raising twenty-six hundred men
for state defense under state officers. Governor
Griswold's successor, Gov. J. Cotton Smith, when
Decatur was blockaded in the Thames, when the
descent upon Saybrook was made, at the attack
upon Stonington, and during those months when
the enemy hovered upon the long exposed coast
line, kept a large force of militia ready for duty.
The state supported these troops, for, in the

a The Massachusetts militia were placed under General Dear-
born, August 5, 1812.

6 Governor Griswold died October, 1812, and was succeeded
in office by Lieutenant-Governor John Cotton Smith.

452 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

wrangle over officership, the national govern-
ment refused the promised supplies.

The New England Federalists soon found seven
great reasons for party action. They were the
uncertain success of the war by land ; the great
commercial distress ; ° the possession by the
enemy of a large part of Maine ; the publication
of the terms upon which England would grant
peace ; b the proposed legislation in the fall of
1814, providing for the increase of the United
States army by draft or conscription ; the pro-
posed modified form of impressment of sailors ;
and the bill allowing army officers to enlist mi-
nors and apprentices over eighteen years of age,

a The direct tax laid July 22-24, 1813, by the national gov-
ernment, was apportioned in September, as follows : To Mas-
sachusetts, $316,270.71 ; to Rhode Island, $34,702.1S; and to
Connecticut, $118,167.71, divided as follows (which shows
the relative wealth of the different sections of the state),
Litchfield, $19,065.72 ; Fairfield, $18,810.50 ; New Haven,
$16,723.10 ; Hartford, $19,608.02 ; New London, $13,392.04 ;
Middlesex, $9,064.20; Windham, $14,524.38; and Tolland,
$6,984.69. Duties were levied upon refined sugar, carriages,
upon licenses to distilleries, auction sales of merchandise and
vessels, upon retailers of wine, spirits, and foreign merchandise;
while a stamp tax was placed upon notes and hills of ex-
change.— See Niles Register, v, 17; Schoulir. ii. 380. The
tax in 1815 was $236,335.41. — Niles, vii, 348.

b Briefly, an independent Indian nation between Canada
and the United States ; no fleets or military posts on the Great
Lakes, and no renunciation of the English rights of search and
impressment.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 453

with or without consent of parents or guardians.0
These measures drove the New England Federal-
ists, at the call of Massachusetts, to the formation
of the Hartford Convention. The Connecticut
legislature approved the sending of delegates by
a vote of 153 to 36 opposed. Massachusetts and
Ehode Island answered with like enthusiasm.
New Hampshire and Vermont hesitated, but the
counties of Cheshire and Grafton in the former
state and of Windham in the latter sent each a
delegate to the convention. Rhode Island sent
four delegates and Massachusetts twelve, of whom
George Cabot was elected president of the con-
vention. Connecticut furnished the secretary of
the convention, and later its historian in Theo-
dore Dwight of Hartford. She also sent seven
other delegates, namely : Chauncey Goodrich,
mayor of Hartford, and from 1814 to 1815 gov-
ernor of the state : John Tread well, ex-governor ;

a The April (1815) session of the Connecticut legislature
passed an " Act to secure the rights of parents, masters and
guardians." It declared the proposed legislation in Congress
contrary to the spirit of the Constitution of the United States,
and an unauthorized interference with state rights. It com-
manded all state judges to discharge on habeas corpus all
minors enlisted without consent of parents or guardians, and
it enacted a fine, not to exceed five hundred dollars, upon any
one found guilty of enlisting a minor against the consent of
his guardian, and a fine of one hundred dollars for the adver-
tising or publication of enticements to minors to enlist.

454 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

James Hillliouse, who had served as United States
representative and senator ; Zephaniah Swift,
United States representative and later chief
judge of superior court of Connecticut ; Calvin
Goddard, United States representative ; Na-
thaniel Smith, United States representative and
later judge of the supreme court ; and Roger
Minot Sherman, a distinguished lawyer and
member of the state legislature. All the dele-
gates to the Hartford Convention were men of
high character, and most of them well-known
leaders of the Federal party. The convention
lasted for three weeks, and, as its sessions were
conducted with the greatest secrecy, many preju-
dicial rumors and surmises arose. The Massa-
chusetts summons had bidden the delegates con-
vene for measures of safety " not repugnant to our
obligations as members of the Union," and the
convention acknowledged that it found the great-
est difficulty in " devising means of defense
against dangers, and of relief from oppressions
proceeding from the act of their own Govern-
ment without violating constitutional principles
or disappointing the hopes of a suffering and
injured people." The secrecy, the known ant-
agonism to the Administration, the knowledge
of New England's early disbelief in the cohe-
sive power of the Union, and the convention's

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 455

demands and resolutions, combined to give a bad
and traitorous reputation to the Hartford Con-
vention that has never been absolutely cleared
away.

As early as 1796, over the signature " Pel-
ham," there had appeared in the " Hartford Cou-
rant" a series of articles written with great
ability and keen foresight as to the difficulties
that would arise in making any impartial legis-
lation for a nation composed of parts having
such diverse economic systems as those of the
North and the South. The articles suggested
the development of two nations instead of
one. During the War of 1812, various sugges-
tions had been thrown out by different news-
papers enlarging upon the resources of New
England and hinting at a separate peace with
England. There were not a few who, upon learn-
ing of the resolutions of the convention, felt
that " Pelham " was a close adviser of its mea-
sures if not one of its delegates. Public opinion
was so wrought up by the assumed disloyalty of
the Hartford Convention that in 1815 it forced
the publication of the convention's brief and
non-committal " Journal." From it little more
was learned than that the convention had re-
solved that the different states should take mea-
sures to protect themselves against draft by the

456 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

national government, that New England should
be allowed to defend herself, and for that pur-
pose should have returned to each of her states
a reasonable share of the national taxes to meet
the expense of their arming. In addition, each
New England state should set apart a certain
portion of her militia under her governor to give
aid in cases of extremity shoidd she be called
upon by the governor of another state. At the
close of the convention, delegates were appointed
to proceed to Washington with these resolutions
and also with six proposed amendments a to the
national constitution. These demands and re-
solves were reinforced by the proposal that
should the Administration refuse to consider the
propositions, another convention should be held in
the following summer to consider further action.
When the delegates arrived in Washington with
the resolutions, of which two state legislatures had
meantime approved, the news of peace had been
declared. In the general jubilation they saw fit

a Amendments : (1) Restrictions npon Congress requiring- a
two thirds vote in making and declaring war, (2) in laying
embargoes, and (3) in admitting new states. (4) Restriction of
the presidential office to one term without reelection, and with
no two successive Presidents from the same state. (6) Reduc-
tion of representation and taxation by not reckoning the blacks
in the slave states. (G) No foreign born citizen should be eligi-
ble to office.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 457

to leave their message undelivered. For years
the taint of rebellion clung to the Hartford Con-
vention, and forced its secretary, in 1833, to pub-
lish his " History," a defense of its members and
their measures. Even this did not remove the
stigma. The delegates had in their own com-
munities always retained their reputation for
high personal character, but politically they were
irretrievably ruined by their participation in the
Hartford gathering. They had dealt their party
in their states a mortal blow, and the Hartford
Convention has been well named " the grave of
the Federal party."

However much the members of the convention
swathed their sentiments in expressions of alle-
giance to the Union, at least until extreme pro-
vocation should force a separation ; or however
much they declared their conviction that peace,
not war, should be the time chosen for such
a separation, and that, first of all, distinction
should be carefully made between a bad consti-
tution and a bad government, and a good con-
stitution or government badly administered,
there was no doubt but that they proposed to
push nullification to the point of active resist-
ance within what they considered their legal
rights. They had also proposed a set of amend-
ments which they knew stood no chance of meet-

458 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

ing with approval from any number of the states.
Moreover the Hartford Convention, whatever its
intentions, seriously alarmed and embarrassed
the Administration. Because of the consequences
of their policy, its members were culpable in the
opinion of all who hold that, in the distress of
war, to hamper one's own government is to lend
assistance to the enemy.0

The war at first was not popular, but made
friends for itself as it progressed. Connecticut
sailors were among the seamen that England had
impressed, and Connecticut captains had sur-
rendered ships and rich cargoes at the command
of the mistress of the seas. But the naval tri-
umphs of the first year caught the popular fancy,
for " not until the Guerriere's colors were struck
to the Constitution had a British frigate been
humiliated on the ocean." The victories on land
were about equally balanced. The disclosures of
English perfidy in attempting through her secret
agents b to detach New England from the Union

a " They advocated nullification and threatened dissolution
of the Union." — J. P. Gordy, Political History of the United
States, ii, 209.

b The President in March, 1812, sent to Congress the docu-
ments for which he had paid one John Henry $50,000. The
latter claimed to be an agent sent from Canada in 1809
to detach New England Federalists from their allegiance to
the Union. Congress by resolution proclaimed the validity of the

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 459

before war should break out, and during the
conflict, by favoritism to Massachusetts, helped
to increase the supporters of the war policy.
Further, the war brought out the latent powers
of the nation, both for defense and for prosper-
ity. The gradual introduction of machinery since
1800 had enlarged the small manufactories of
Connecticut, and begun the exchange of products
between near localities. But before the War
of 1812 no manufacturing in Connecticut had
achieved a notable success. a There was invention

documents. The British minister solemnly denied all know-
ledge of them on the part of his government. The American
people believed in their authenticity, which belief was con-
firmed during the war by the distinct favor shown for a while
to Massachusetts, and by the hope, openly entertained by
England, of separating New England from New York and the
southern states.

a Manufactures in Connecticut (abridged from the U. S. mar-
shal's report in the autumn of 1810, cited in Niles' Register,
vi, 323-333) were represented by 14 cotton mills, 15 woolen
mills. (By 1815 New London county alone had 14 woolen mills
and 10 cotton.) These had increased to 60 cotton in 1819,
and to 36 woolen. Flax cloth, blended or unnamed cloths, and
wool cloth, — all these made in families, — amounted to a yearly
valuation of $2,151,972; hempen cloth, $12,148; stockings,
$111,021 ; silks (sewing and raw), $28,503 ; hats to the value
of $522,200 ; straw bonnets, $25,100 ; shell, horn, and ivory in
manufactured products, $70,000. Looms for cotton numbered
16,132 ; carding machines, 184 ; fulling mills, 213, and there
were 11,883 spindles.

In iron, wood, and steel : 8 furnaces, with output of $46,180 ;
48 forges, $183,910; 2 rolling and slitting mills, 32 trip-

460 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

and skill,0 and often profit, in the home market
for the coarser products, but there was a general
tendency to prefer imported goods of finer make.
The war cut off such supplies, and the need cre-
ated a paying demand and developed an ability
to supply it. The political party that conducted
the war to a successful finish developed the policy
of protection of infant industries, and the tariff
of 1816 gave birth to Connecticut as a manu-
facturing state. The repeal of the obnoxious war
measures, the speedy reduction of the national
expenses, and the promise of prosperity smoothed

hammers, $91,146 ; 18 naileries, $27,092 ; 4 brass foundries,
1 type foundry, brass jewelry, and plaited ware, $49,200; metal
buttons, 155,000 gross,.or $102,125 ; guns, rifles, etc., $49,050.

Among other manufactories and manufactures there were
408 tanneries, $476,339 ; shoes, boots, etc., $231,812 ; the tin
plate industry, $139,370 ; 560 distilleries, $811,144; 18 paper
mills, $82,188; ropewalks, $243,950; carriages, $68,855,
and the beginnings of brick-making, glass-works, pottery,
marble works, which, with the state's 24 flaxseed mills and
seven gunpowder mills, brought the sum total to approximately
$6,000,000.

Still the great impetus to manufacturing, which completely
revolutionized the character of the state, followed the Joint-
stock Act of 1837, with its consequent investment of capital
and rush of emigration, resulting in later days in a develop-
ment of the cities at the expense of the rural districts.

a Gilbert Brewster, the Arkwright of American cotton ma-
chinery, Eli Whitney, with his cotton gin and rifle improve-
ments, and John Fitch, with his experiments with steam, are
the most distinguished among a host of men who made Yankee
ingenuity and Yankee skill proverbial.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 461

out lingering resentment. The Federal party was
virtually extinct outside of its last strongholds in
New England and Delaware. In the Era of Good
Feeling following the war the whole people com-
posed one party, with principles neither those of
the original Federal party nor those of the origi-
nal Republican party, but a combination of both.a
In New England during the War of 1812, as
in the Revolution, the clergy had been the nucleus
of the local dominant party, and with its leaders
had been bitter opponents of the " unrighteous
war." 208 Consequently the Congregational clergy
shared in the popular disapproval and condemna-
tion that overtook the Federalists. In Connecti-
cut, for a time, the Standing Order by its affilia-
tion with the Federal party prolonged its control
of the state. But the tide was turning. Dr.
Lyman Beecher, Dr. Dwight's able lieutenant,
made vigorous and laudable efforts to uphold the
Dwights, the Aaron and Moses, as it were, of the

« " Era of Good Feeling-, 1817-1829. The best principles of
the Federalists, the preservation and perpetuity of the Federal
government, had been quietly accepted by the Republicans,
and the Republican principle of limiting the powers and duties
of the Federal government had been adopted by the Federal-
ists. The Republicans deviated so far from their earlier strict
construction views as in 1816 to charter a national bank for
twenty years, and to model it upon Hamilton's bank of 1791
which they had refused to re-charter in 1811." — A. Johnson,
American Politics, pp. 80, 81.

462 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

waning political power. The " Home Missionary
Society," ° Bible societies, the " Domestic Mis-
sionary Society for the Building up of Waste
Places," and the many branches of the " Society
for the Suppression of Vice and Promotion of
Good Morals " b did much good among those
who welcomed them. Where their residts were
simply those of a morality enforced by law,
they caused still greater dissatisfaction with
the ruling party.c The union of the clergy and

a " This was for the support of missions outside the state.
The Domestic or State Home Missionary Society undertook the
buiding up of places within the state that were without suit-
able religious care. The former finally absorbed the latter when
its original purpose was accomplished. Then, there was the
Litchfield County Foreign Mission Society, founded in 1812, the
first auxiliary of the American Board, which began its career
in 1810, and was incorporated the same year that its youngest
branch was organized." — Lyman Beecher, Autobiography, i,
275, 287-88 and 291.

b Organized in New Haven in October, 1812, with Dr. Dwight
as chairman. Members of the committee upon organization in-
cluded nearly all the prominent men of that day, both of the
clergy and of the bar. A list is given in Lyman Beecher, Au-
tobiography, i, 256.

c " We really broke up riding and working on the Sabbath,
and got the victory. The thing was done, and had it not been
for the political revolution that followed, it would have stood
to this day. . . . The efforts we made to execute the laws, and
secure a reformation of morals, reached the men of piety, and
waked up the energies of the whole state, so far as the mem-
bers of our churches, and the intelligent and moral portion of
our congregation were concerned. These, however, proved to

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 463

lawyers was not as influential as had been antici-
pated in the early days of 1812. Soon after the
war the clergy adopted a less vigorous policy,
preferring an attitude of defense against cal-
umny and a withdrawal from politics."

The elections showed the change in public
opinion. At the April election, 1814, the Fed-
erals reelected Governor Smith, while the Re-
publican candidate, Mr. Edward Boardman,
received 1629 votes. The following year, not-
withstanding Governor Smith's reelection, Mr.
Boardman polled 4876 votes, and the Republi-
cans made a gain of twenty in the House of
Representatives, while in the fall nominations for
Assistants, the highest Federal vote was 9008
and that of the Republicans was 426 8.209

In January, 1816, " a meeting of citizens from
various parts of the state " was held in New
Haven to agree upon a nomination for governor

be a minority of the suffrage of the state." — Lyman Beecher,
Autobiography, i, 268.

" In Pomfret the Justice of the Peace arrested and fined
townspeople who persisted in working on Sunday, and held
travellers over until Monday morning." — E. D. Larned, History
of Windham, ii, 448.

a ' ' The odium thrown upon the ministry was inconceivable.
. . . The Congregational ministers agreed to hold back and
keep silent until the storm blew over. Our duty as well as
policy was explanation and self-defence, expostulation and con-
ciliation." — Autobiography, i, 344.

464 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

and lieutenant-governor, which would bind to-
gether the Republicans and such of the Federal-
ists as were opposed to the Standing Order.
Oliver Wolcott and Jonathan Ingersoll were
unanimously agreed upon. Oliver Wolcott had
been living out of the state for fourteen years,
and for most of that time had not been in
politics. His Republican supporters had had
time to forget him as a staunch Federalist, and
remembered him only as a man of parts who
had held the secretaryship of the treasury under
Washington and Adams, and who had " opposed
the Hartford Convention; like Washington was
a friend to the Union, a foe to rebellion ; with
mild means resisted bigotry, with a glowing
heart favored toleration." 210 As he had approved
the policy of the general government since the
days of Madison, he was pronounced an available
candidate. A good Congregationalist, he would
not offend the Federalists, would be acceptable
to the Republicans, and would stand to the cap-
italists and farmers as favorable to a protective
tariff and to more equitable taxation within the
state. The prestige given him by the executive
abilities of his father and grandfather in the
gubernatorial chair also counted in his favor.
The candidate for lieutenant-governor was Jon-
athan Ingersoll, a Federalist, an eminent New

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 465

Haven lawyer, a prominent Episcopalian, senior
warden of Trinity Church, and chairman of the
Bishop's Fund. He had had political training
in the Council, 1792-1798, and had been judge
of the Superior Court, 1798-1801, and again
from 1811 to 1816. His nomination was the
price of the Episcopal vote, for " it was deemed
expedient by giving the Episcopalians a fair
opportunity to unite with the Republicans, to at-
tempt to affect such change in the Government
as should afford some prospect of satisfaction to
their united demands." a

The " Connecticut Herald," indignant at the
Assembly's conduct in the Phoenix Bank affair,
left the Federal party and independently nomi-
nated Jonathan Ingersoll for lieutenant-governor
instead of the regular candidate of that party,
Chauncey Goodrich. The " American Mercury,"

a " Aristides," March 26, 1826, and " Episcopalian," March
13, issues of the American Mercury.

" When the Episcopal Church petitioned the legislature in
vain, as she did for a series of years, for a charter to a college,
he (the Rev. Philo Shelton of Fairfield) with others of his
hre thr en proposed a union with the political party, then in a mi-
nority, to secure what he regarded a just right. And the first
fruit of the union was the charter of Trinity (Washington)
College, Hartford. He was one of a small number of clergy-
men who decided on this measure, and were instrumental in
carrying it into effect ; and it resulted in a change in the politics
of the State which has never yet been reversed." — Sprague's
Annals of American Pulpit (Episcopal), v, 35.

466 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

the organ of the American Toleration party, the
union of Republicans, dissenters, and dissatisfied,
in order " to produce that concord and harmony
among parties which have too long, and without
any real diversity of interests, been disturbed,
and which every honest man must earnestly de-
sire to see restored," nominated for governor,
Oliver Wolcott ; for lieutenant-governor, Jona-
than Ingersoll. The Federal candidate for the
executive was Governor John Cotton Smith, up
for reelection. The Tolerationists failed by a few
hundred votes to seat their candidate for the ex-
ecutive, with the result that the election of 1816
raised to office Governor Smith and Lieutenant-
Governor Ingersoll. Governor Smith received
11,589 votes, Mr. Wolcott 10,170, while Lieu-
tenant-Governor Ingersoll polled a majority of
1453 over his opponent, Mr. Calvin Goddard.
It was the first time that a dissenter had held so
high an office. The Federalists might have seized
the opportunity to renew their former friendship
with the Episcopalians had it not been for their
stubbornness and for their old fear of Churchmen
in political office. At the October town meetings,
the returns from ninety-three towns gave a Fed-
eral vote of 7995 and a Republican of 6315 for

a Total vote for governor 21,759. Mr. Goddard received
9421 votes. — J. H. Trumbull, Hist. Notes, p. 36.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 467

representatives, with a Federal majority of about
thirty in the House.211

The Federalists, realizing that the Episcopal
vote was almost lost to them, that their domestic
policy was in disfavor, and that their conduct
during the war had damaged them and was lead-
ing to their downfall in Connecticut even as in
the nation, resolved upon a desperate measure
to conciliate a larger number of the dissenters.
This was the Act of October, 1816, for the Support
of Literature and Religion. Briefly, it divided
the balance of the money which the nation owed
Connecticut for expenses during the war, namely
$145,000, among the various denominations. To
the Congregationalists it gave in round num-
bers, and including the grant to Yale, $ 6 8,0 00 ;
to the Episcopalians, 120,000 ; to Methodists,
112,000 ; and to Baptists, $18,000 ; to Quakers,
Sandemanians, etc., nothing.® The Quakers were
assumed to be satisfied with their recent ex-
emptions from military duty upon the payment
of a small tax ; Sandemanians and other insig-
nificant sects to be conciliated by the act of the

a The law apportioned one third of the money to the Con-
gregationalists ; one seventh to Yale ; one seventh to the Epis-
copalians ; one eighth to the Baptists ; one twelfth to the
Methodists, and the balance to the state treasury. — Cited in
Connecticut Courant, November 8, 1816. Acts and Laws, pp.
279, 280.

468 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

preceding April, which repealed, after a duration
of nearly one hundred and eighty years, the fine of
fifty cents for absence from church on Sunday.
The people were at last free, not only to wor-
ship as they chose, but when they chose, or to
omit worship. They had yet to obtain equal
privileges for all denominations, and exemption
from enforced support of religion.

The passage of the Act for the Support of
Literature and Religion raised, as the Congre-
gation alists ought to have known it would, a
violent protest from every dissenter and from
every political come-outer. Some of the towns
in town-meetings opposed the bill as unneces-
sary for the support of schools and clergy ; as
wasteful, when it would be wiser to create a
state fund; and as unduly favorable to Yale,
where the policy was to create an intellectual
class and not to advance learning and literature
among the commonalty. At Andover, February
1, 1817, Episcopalians, Baptists, and Methodists
met together and denounced the act because
they disapproved of the union of Church and
State which it encouraged ; because of Yale's
tendency to bias religion ; because they all ap-
proved of the voluntary support of religion ,• and
because they all scorned such a political trick as
the bill appeared to them, namely, an attempt to

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 469

win by their acceptance of the money their
apparent approval of the enforced support of re-
ligion. The Baptist societies in different towns
met to condemn the measure on the same grounds,
and on the additional ones that it was unfair to
the Quakers, who had no paid preachers ; to the
Universalists, because they were numerically still
too small to be of political importance ; and in-
deed to many men, since, as every man had con-
tributed to the expense of the war, every man
ought to be rewarded proportionally. The Metho-
dists agreed in all these criticisms, and were no
more backward in denouncing a measure which
forced on them money they did not seek, and
for a purpose of which they disapproved. The
Methodist Society of Glastonbury were most
outspoken, declaring the law —

incompatible with sound policy and inconsistent with
any former act of the legislature of the state ; the
ultimate consequence of which will prove a lasting
curse to vital religion, which every candid and re-
flecting mind may easily foresee ; and we view it as
a very , bold and desperate effort to effectuate a union
between Church and State. . . . We are induced to
believe that Pilate and Herod, and the chief Priests
are still against us, . . . $12,000 to the contrary
notwithstanding. Resolved —

(1) We don't want such reparation for being
characterized as an illiterate set of enthusiasts

470 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

devoid of character ; our clergy a set of worthless
ramblers, unworthy the protection of our civil laws.

(2) Pity and contempt for the Legislature should
be expressed for bribery.

(3) We believe the money, if received, would be a
lasting curse.

(4) The measure was intended for politics, not re-
ligion, and was a species of Tyranny.

(5) We should use our best endeavors to have the
money used for state expenses.

(6) Thanks should be sent to the members of the
Legislature who had opposed the measure.

All Methodists were further angered by the
affront put upon them by the General Assembly,
which, in spite of their known determination
not to receive the money, appointed Methodist
trustees, of whom a majority were Federalists,
to receive their share of the appropriation. The
trustees accepted the money, defending their
action on the ground that they believed that
their claim would become void if they did not
draw the money, and it might then be put to
a worse use. But the Methodist societies did
not uphold the trustees, and " regretted the com-
mittee imposed on us by the Legislature of
the state." The chairman of the committee, the
Rev. Augustus Bolles, refused to serve, and the
societies rejected the money.0

a The first installment, $50,000, was paid into the Treasury in

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 471

As a result of the unwelcome legislation, the
Republicans received the whole vote of the Meth-
odists for the " Toleration and Reform Ticket "
of 1817, which repeated the nominations of the
preceding election. The Episcopalians of course
favored the reelection of Lieutenant-Governor
Ingersoll. One small provocation by the Con-
gregationalists of the First Church of New
Haven — the attempt to place the odium of
expulsion upon a member who became an Episco-
palian — did not tend to allay feeling. The Tol-
eration party were sure of the votes of the more
feeble dissenters, whose interests they promised
to regard, as well as of those of the Baptists
and of such Federalists as disapproved of the
high-handed policy of the Standing Order. The
Tolerationists were also counting upon a steady
increase of recruits from the Federal ranks as
soon as the appreciation of a recent attack by

June, 1817. The Methodists, and later the Baptists, accepted
their share, but not until political events had removed some of
their objections.

See the Mirror, February 16, 1818. It was not until 1820
that the final acceptance of the money took place.

J. H. Trumbull, Hist. Notes, p. 36, foot-note, gives the fol-
lowing figures. By November, 1817, $61,500 had been received
and apportioned: Congregationalists, $20,500.00 ; Trustees of
the Bishop's Fund, $8,785.71; Baptist Trustees, $7,687.50;
Methodist Trustees, $5,125.00 ; Yale College, $8,785.71, and a
balance still unappropriated of $10,616.08.

472 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

the legislature upon the judiciary and its danger
should become more and more realized. Many
such recruits, convinced of the necessity of con-
stitutional reform, had gathered at the general
meeting of Republicans held in New Haven in
October, 1816, to make up the ticket for the
spring election of 1817. The campaign issue
was " whether freemen shall be tolerated in the
free exercise of their religious and political
rights." It was met by the election of Governor
Wolcott with a majority of 600 votes over ex-
Governor J. Cotton Smith, and by no opposition
to the reelection of Lieutenant-Governor Inger-
soll.° At the same election many minor Repub-
lican officials were seated, and the House went
Republican by an assured majority of nearly two
to one, the Senate remaining strongly Federal.

Governor Wolcott's inaugural placed before
the Assembly the following subjects for consid-
eration : (1) A new system of taxation ; for, as
the governor pointed out, the capitation tax was
equivalent to about one-sixteenth of the laboring

a Legal returns gave Wolcott 13,655

Smith 13,119

Scattering 202 13,321

334
9 The correction of errors increased the majority to 600, which
the Federalists conceded. — J. H. Trumbull, Hist. Notes, p. 38,
footnote.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 473

man's income. (2) Judges of the Superior
Court should hold their office during good be-
havior instead of by annual appointment by the
legislature. (3) There should be a complete
separation of legislative and judicial powers of
government. (4) Rights of conscience and the
voluntary support of religion, though if neces-
sary with " laws providing efficient remedies for
enforcing the voluntary contracts for their [min-
isters'] support," should be considered ; and
(5) Freedom of suffrage. In concluding, the
governor urged that " whenever the public mind
appears to be considerably agitated on these
subjects, prudence requires that the legislature
should revise its measures, and by reasonable
explanation or modifications of the law, restore
public confidence and tranquillity." a

To consider briefly these various points : Taxes
upon mills, machinery, and manufactures needed
to be light in order to secure their continued ex-
istence. The necessities of war-time had created
a larger market for their products, but one that
could not be continued after the close of the war
allowed European products to enter free of duty.
Nor could the factories exist if burdened with
heavy taxes before the new tariff measures of

a Governor Wolcott's speech, Connecticut Courant, May 20,
1817 ; also Niles' Register, xii, pp. 201-204.

474 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

1816 had revived these depressed industries. In
agriculture, taxes upon horses, oxen, stock, dairy
products, and increased areas of tillage handi-
capped the farmer. Again, the tax upon fire-
places, rather than upon houses, weighed heavily
upon the poor and the moderately well-to-do,
who built small and inexpensive houses with say
three fireplaces, while the rich owners of older
and more pretentious dwellings were often rated
for fewer.0 Money was scarce, rich men rare.
So also was great poverty. There was a scanty
living for the majority. Trades were few, wages
low. A farm-hand averaged three shillings a
day, paid in provisions. Women of all work
drudged for two shillings and sixpence per week,
while a farm overseer received a salary of seventy
dollars a year. The children of people in aver-
age circumstances walked barefoot to church,
carrying their shoes and stockings, which they
put on under the shelter of the big tree nearest
to the meeting-house. Their fathers made one
Sunday suit last for years. The wealthy had
small incomes, though relatively great. It was
whispered that Pierpont Edwards, the rich and
prosperous New Haven lawyer, had an income

a " In our climate, three fireplaces are occasionally neces-
sary to the comfortable accommodation of every family."
— Governor's speech.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 475

from his law practice of two thousand dollars
per year.

Points (2) and (3) in the governor's address
were prompted by the widespread interest cre-
ated by the action of the legislature in October,
1815, when it had set aside the conviction, by a
special Superior Court at Middletown, of Peter
Lung for murder, on the ground that the court
was irregularly and illegally convened. The
chief judge was Zephaniah Swift of Windham,
author of the " System of Connecticut Laws." a
Judge Swift appealed to the public b to vindicate
his judicial character from the censure implied
by the Assembly's action. An ardent Federalist,
who in the early days of statehood could see no
need of a better constitution than he then insisted
Connecticut possessed through the adoption of
her ancient charter, he had long opposed the
ecclesiastical establishment which that charter
upheld. In his defense of the constitution he
had maintained that "it ought to be deemed
an inviolable maxim that when proper courts of
law are constituted, the legislature are divested
of all judicial authority.''''212 But when the leg-
islature claimed as constitutional the right to call

« Published 1795.

b A vindication of the calling of the Special Superior Court
at Middletown . . . for the trial of Peter Lung . . . with obser-
vations, &c Windham, 1816.

476 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

to account any court, magistrate, or other officer
for misdemeanor or mal-administration,° Judge
Swift admitted the lack of " a written constitu-
tion." He further argued that the one " made up
of usages and customs, had always been under-
stood to contain certain fundamental axioms
which were held sacred and inviolable, and which
were the basis on which rested the rights of the
people." Of these self-evident principles one was
that the three branches of government — the ex-
ecutive, legislative, and judicial — were coordi-
nate and independent, and that the powers of one
should never be exercised by the other. " It ought
to be held as a fundamental axiom," the judge
declared, " that the Legislature should never en-
croach on the jurisdiction of the Judiciary, nor
assume the province of interfering in private
rights, nor of overhauling the decisions of the
courts of law." Otherwise, " the legislature would
become one great arbitration that would engulf
all the courts of law,6 and sovereign discretion

a The legislature had also interfered with decisions regard-
ing the Syrasbury patent. See E. Kirby, Law Reports, p. 44(3.

b A summary of the Connecticut constitution, taken from
Niles's Register, asserts that the General Court has sole power
to make and repeal laws, grant levies, dispose of lands belong-
ing to the state to particular towns and persons, to erect and
style judicatories and officers as they shall see necessary for
the good government of the people ; also to call to account any
court, magistrate, or other officer for misdemeanor andmalad-

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 477

would be the only rule of decision, — a state of
things equally favorable to lawyers and crimi-
nals."™

ministration, or for just cause may fine, displace, or remove
them, or deal otherwise as the nature of the case shall require ;
and may deal or act in any other matter that concerns the good
of the state except the election of governor, deputy-governor,
assistants, treasurer and secretary, which shall be done by the
freemen at the yearly court of election, unless there be any
vacancy by reason of death or otherwise, after an election,
when it may be filled by the General Court. This court has
power also, for reasons satisfactory to them, to grant suspen-
sion, release, and jail delivery upon reprieves in capital and
criminal cases.

The elections for the assistants and superior officers are
annual ; for the representatives, semi-annual. The sessions of
the General Court are semi-annual. The Governor and the
speaker have the casting vote in the Upper and Lower House,
respectively.

The Superior Court consists of one chief judge and four
others, and holds two sessions in each county each year. Its
jurisdiction holds over all criminal cases extending to life,
limb, or banishment ; all criminal cases brought from county
courts by appeal or writ of error, and in some matters of
divorce.

The county court consists of one judge and four justices of
the quorum, with jurisdiction over all criminal cases not extend-
ing to life, limb, or banishment, and with original jurisdiction
in all civil actions where the demand exceeds forty shillings.

Justices of the Peace, in the various towns, have charge of
civil actions involving less than forty shillings, and crimi-
nal jurisdiction in some cases, where the fine does not exceed
forty shillings, or the punishment exceed ten stripes or sitting
in the stocks. Judges and Justices are annually appointed by
the General Court, and commonly reappointed during good

478 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

With respect to the fifth point in the gov-
ernor's address, the right of suffrage, the Repub-
licans and their allies demanded its extension
from householders having real estate rated at
$7 (40s.), or personal estate of $134 (£40),
to " men who pay small taxes, work on highways,
or do service in the militia."

In the fall of 1817, the reform party had
forced the repeal of the obnoxious Stand-Up
Law, and it demanded that other restrictive
measures should be annulled. So bitter was the
Federal antagonism in the Council that during

behavior, while sheriffs are appointed by the governor and
council without time-limit and are subject to removal.

Recently county courts determined matters of equity invol-
ving- from five pounds to two hundred pounds, the Superior
Court two hundred pounds to sixteen hundred, and the Gen-
eral Assembly all others.

Probate districts, not coextensive with the counties, exist,
with appeal to the Superior Court.

In military matters, the governor is the captain-general of
the militia, and the General Court appoints the general officers
and field officers, and they are commissioned by the governor.
Captains and subalterns are chosen by the vote of the com-
pany and of the householders living within the limits of the
company, but must be approved by the General Court and
commissioned by the governor before they can serve. All mili-
tary officers hold their commissions during the pleasure of
the General Assembly and may not resign them without per-
mission, except under penalty of being reduced to the ranks. —
Niks' Register, 1813, vol. iii, p. 443, etc. Corrected slightly
by reference to Swift's System of Laws.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 479

all the spring session of 1817, the Tolerationists
loudly complained that every reform measure
proposed in the House was lost in the Federal
Senate. The committees to which parts of the
governor's speech had been referred for consid-
eration did little. That on taxation made a re-
port in the fall recommending that a careful
investigation of conditions and resources should
be made, because, as capital sought investment
in banks, manufacturing, and various commercial
enterprises unknown to the earlier generations,0
the fairness of the old system of taxation was
lapsing. The mixed committee, including several
Tolerationists and having an Episcopal chairman,
that was to report upon the religious situation,
gave no encouragement to dissenters. The spring
session allowed one barren act to pass, the " Act
to secure equal rights, powers, and privileges to
Christians of all denominations in this state."
It enacted that henceforth certificates should be
lodged with the town clerk, and permitted a
come-outer to return to the society from which
he had separated. In the following spring, when
an attempt was made to pass a bill to supersede
this act, it was maintained that the law of 1817
" did not effect the object or answer the desire

a Banks and insurance companies began to organize about
1790 to 1810.

480 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

of the aggrieved party," for it retained the certifi-
cate clause and continued to deny to dissenters
the measure of religious liberty freely accorded
to the Established churches.

The Tolerationists were determined to carry
the elections of 1818. In the fall elections of
1817, they again had a majority of nearly two to
one in the House, and consequently the struggle
was for the control of the Senate. At the fall
meetings, they placed in nomination their candi-
dates for senators, and all through the winter they
agitated in town meetings and in every other
way the discussion of their " Constitution and
Reform Ticket." Party pamphlets were scattered
throughout the state. One of these, the most in
favor, was " The Politics of Connecticut : by a
Federal Republican" (George H. Richards of
New London). At the spring elections of 1818,
the Constitution and Reform Ticket carried the
day, seating the reelected governor and lieuten-
ant-governor, eight anti-Federal senators, and
preserving the anti-Federal majority in the
House. The political revolution was complete,
and the preliminary steps towards the construc-
tion of a new constitution were at once begun.a

The governor's inaugural address specified

a In 1818, for the first time, a dissenter, Mr. Croswell, rector
of Trinity Church, New Haven, preached the Election Sermon.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 481

the main task before the Assembly in the fol-
lowing words : —

As a portion of the people have expressed a de-
sire that the form of civil government in this State
should he revised, this highly interesting subject will
probably engage your [the Assembly's] deliberations.
. . . Considered merely as an instrument defining
the powers and duties of magistrates and rulers, the
Charter may justly be considered as unpro visional and
imperfect. Yet it ought to be recollected that what
is now its greatest defect was formerly a pre-eminent
advantage, it being then highly important to the
people to acquire the greatest latitude of authority
with an exemption from British influence and control.

If I correctly comprehend the wishes which have
been expressed by a portion of our fellow citizens,
they are now desirous, as the sources of apprehension
from external causes are at present happily closed,
that the Legislative, Executive and Judicial authori-
ties of their own government may be more precisely
defined and limited, and the rights of the people de-
clared and acknowledged. It is your province to
dispose of this important subject in such manner as
will best promote general satisfaction and tranquillity.

The House appointed a select committee of five
to report upon the revision of the form of civil
government. The Council appointed Hon. Elijah
Boardman (Federalist) and Hon. William Bris-
tol (Tolerationist) to act as joint committee with

482 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

several gentlemen selected by the House. The
joint committee reported that " the present was
a period peculiarly auspicious for carrying into
effect the wishes of our fellow-citizens, — the gen-
eral desire for a revision and reformation of the
structure of our civil government and the estab-
lishment of a Constitutional Compact " and " that
the organization of the different branches of gov-
ernment, the separation of their powers, the tenure
of office, the elective franchise, liberty of speech
and of the press, freedom of conscience, trial by
jury, rights which relate to these deeply interesting
subjects, ought not to be suffered to rest on the frail
foundation of legislative will." 2M Immediately,
the House passed a bill requiring the freemen of
the towns to assemble in town meeting on the fol-
lowing Fourth of July " to elect by ballot as many
delegates as said towns now choose representatives
to the General Assembly," said delegates to meet
in constitutional convention at Hartford on the
fourth Wednesday of the following August (Aug.
26) for " the formation of a Constitution of
Civil Government for the people of this state."
The bill further declared that the constitution
when " ratified by such majority of the said
qualified voters, convened as aforesaid, as shall be
directed by said convention, shall be and remain
tin Supreme Law of this State." An attempt

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 483

was made to substitute " one delegate " for
" as many delegates " as the towns sent. Upon
the question in the convention, as to what ma-
jority should be required for ratification, there
was considerable diversity of opinion. " Two-
thirds of the whole number of towns " was sug-
gested, but was opposed on the ground that " two-
thirds of the whole number of the towns might
not contain one-fourth of the people." " TJiree-
fifths of the legal voters of the state " was also
suggested. In the final decision, the simple " ma-
jority of the freemen " was accepted. Had this
not been the case, the constitution would have
failed of ratification, for, as Burlington made no
returns, the vote stood 59 out of 120 towns for
ratification, with 13,918 yeas to 12,364 nays,
giving a majority of but 1554.

Several causes tended to bring about an eager,
an amiable, or tolerant support of the work of
the convention. Republicans and Tolerationists
hoped for sweeping reforms. The Federalists
were divided. Many there were who believed it
dangerous for the state to continue destitute of
fundamental laws defining and limiting the
powers of the legislature, and to such as these
the need of a bill of rights, and of the separation
of the powers of the government, was immediate
and imperative. The influential faction of the

484 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

New Haven Federalists were moved to modify
any opposition existing among them by the pro-
posed change to annual sessions of the legisla-
ture with alternate sittings in the two capitals.
There were still other Federalists who accepted
the proposed change in government as inevita-
ble, and who wisely forebore to block it, prefer-
ring to use all their influence toward saving as
much as possible of the old institutions under
new forms. And in this resolve they were en-
couraged by the high character of the men that
all parties chose as delegates to the constitutional
convention.

The convention met August 26, 1818, at Hart-
ford. Governor Wolcott, one of the delegates
from Litchfield, was elected president, and Mr.
James Lanman, secretary. Mr. Pierpont Edwards
was chosen chairman of a committee of three
from each county to draft a constitution. The
estimated strength of the parties was one hun-
dred and five Republicans to ninety-five Federal-
ists, and, of the drafting committee, five mem-
bers belonged to the political minority.0 An
idea of the character of the men chosen for this

a Messrs. Pitkin, Todd, G. Lamed, Pettibone, and Wiley. Of
these, the first had been twenty times state representative, five
times speaker of the House, and for thirteen years had been
representative in Congress

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 485

important task of framing a new constitution is
gained from a glance at some of the names. To
begin with, over thirty-nine of the delegates to
the convention either were Yale alumni or held
its honorary degrees, and half of the drafting
committee were her graduates. Ex-Governor
Treadwell and Alexander Wolcott led the op-
posing parties, while their able seconds in com-
mand were General Nathaniel Terry of Hartford
and Pierpont Edwards of New Haven. The latter
still held the office of judge of the United States
District Court, to which Jefferson had appointed
him. Among the delegates, there were Mr. Amasa
Learned, formerly representative in Congress,
the ex-chief-judges Jesse Eoot and Stephen Mix
Mitchell, Aaron Austin, a member of the Coun-
cil for over twenty years until the party elec-
tions of 1818 unseated him, ex-Governor John
Treadwell, and Lemuel Sanford, — all of whom
had been delegates to the convention of 1788,
called to ratify the constitution of the United
States. Five members of the drafting committee
were state senators, namely : Messrs. William
Bristol, Sylvester Wells, James Lanman, Dr. John
S. Peters of Hebron, and Peter Webb of Wind-
ham. Five others, Messrs. Elisha Phelps, Gideon
Tomlinson, James Stevens, Orange Merwin, and
Daniel Burrows were afterwards elected to that

486 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

office, while Gideon Tomlinson and John S.
Peters became in turn governors of the state.
James Lanman, Nathan Smith (a member also
of the committee), and Tomlinson entered the
national Senate. Among the delegates, there
were nearly a dozen well-known physicians, most
of them to be found among the Tolerationists.
Messrs. Webb, Christopher Manwaring of New
London, Gideon Tomlinson of Fairfield, and
General Joshua King of Eidgefield, together
with Joshua Stow of Middletown (also on the
drafting committee), had been for years the war-
horses of the democracy, loyal followers of their
leader Alexander Wolcott, who had been the Re-
publican state manager from 1800 to 1817.

The method of procedure in the convention
was to report from time to time a portion of the
draft of the constitution, of which each article
was considered section by section, discussed, and
amended. After each of the several sections had
been so considered, the whole article was opened
to amendment before the vote upon its acceptance
was taken. When all articles had been approved,
the constitution was printed as so far accepted,
and was again submitted to revision and amend-
ment before receiving the final approval of the
convention.

While the constitutional convention was in

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 487

session, the Baptists and Methodists resolved that
no constitution of civil government should receive
their approbation and support unless it contained
a provision that should secure the full and com-
plete enjoyment of religious liberty.215 And it was
known that the Episcopalians were ready to sec-
ond such resolutions. These expressions of opinion
were of weight as foreshadowing the kind of re-
ception that many of the towns where the dis-
senters were in the ascendant would accord any
constitution sent to them for ratification.

In the convention both the old Federal leader
and the old Democratic chief objected to the in-
corporation in the constitution of a bill of rights.
Governor Treadwell opposed it on the ground
that such " unalterable " regulations were un-
necessary where, as in a republic, all power was
vested in the people. Alexander Wolcott objected
that such a " bill would circumscribe the powers
of the General Assembly" and also because of
his disapproval of some of its clauses.216 When
the draft of fourth section was under discussion,
namely that " No preference shall be given by
law to any religious sect or mode of worship,"
the Rev. Asahel Morse, a Baptist minister, offered
the substitute, —

That rights of conscience are inalienable, that all
persons have a natural right to worship Almighty God

488 THE DEVELOPMENT OF KELIGIOUS

according to their own consciences ; and no person
shall he compelled to attend any place of worship, or
contribute to the support of any minister, contrary to
his own choice.

The substitute was rejected, and after some dis-
cussion, the wording of the section was changed
by substituting " Christian " in place of " reli-
gious" and this change retained in the final

a The first seven sections of the Bill of Rights according to
the final revision are : —

Sec. 1. That all men when they form a social compact, are
equal in rights ; and that no man, or set of men are entitled to
exclusive public emoluments or privileges from the community.

Sec. 2. That all political power is inherent in the people, and
all free governments are founded on their authority, and in-
stituted for their benefit ; and that they have, at all times, an
undeniable and indefeasible right to alter their form of gov-
ernment, in such a manner as they may think expedient.

Sec. 3. The exercise and enjoyment of religious profession
and worship, without discrimination, shall forever be free to all
persons in this state ; provided, that the right, hereby declared
and established, shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of
licentiousness, or to justify practices inconsistent with the peace
and safety of the state.

Sec. 4. No preference shall be given by law to any Christian
sect or mode of worship.

Sec. 5. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish
his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse
of that liberty.

Sec. 6. No law shall ever be passed to curtail or restrain the
liberty of speech or of the press.

Sec. 7. In all prosecutions or indictments for libels, the truth
may be given in evidence ; and the jury shall have the right

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 489

The seventh article, " Of Religion," was the
subject of a long and earnest debate.

Sec. 1. It being the right and duty of all men to
worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and
Preserver of the universe, in the mode most consistent
with the dictates of their own consciences ; no person
shall be compelled to join or support, nor by law be
classed with or associated to any congregation, church
or religious association. And each and every society
or denomination of Christians in this State, shall have
and enjoy the same and equal powers, rights and priv-
ileges ; and shall have power and authority to sup-
port and maintain the Ministers or Teachers of their
respective denominations, and to build and repair
houses for public worship, by a tax on the members of
the respective societies only, or in any other manner.

Sec. 2. If any person shall choose to separate him-
self from the society or denomination of Christians
to which he may belong, and shall leave written notice
thereof with the Clerk of such society he shall there-
upon be no longer liable for any future expenses,
which may be incurred by said society.

The Federalists contested its passage at every
point, and succeeded in modifying the first draft
in important particulars, but could not prevent
complete severance of Church and State, nor the
constitutional guarantee to all denominations of

to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the
court.

490 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

religious liberty and perfect equality before the
law. To the first clause as reported — " It being
the right and duty of all men to worship the
Supreme Being, the Great Creator and Preserver
of the Universe, in the mode most consistent with
the dictates of their consciences" — Governor
Treadwell objected that " Conscience may be per-
verted, and man may think it his duty to worship
his Creator by image, or as the Greeks and Ro-
mans did ; and though he would tolerate all
modes of worship, he would not recognize it in
the Constitution, as the duty of a person to wor-
ship as the heathen do." Mr.Tomlinson afterwards
moved to amend the clause to its present shape,
" The duty of all men to worship . . . and their
right to render that worship." Governor Tread-
well objected that the same clause went " to dis-
solve all ecclesiastical societies in this State."
That was probably its intent as Messrs. Joshua
Stow and Gideon Tomlinson had drafted it. The
former answered all objections by asserting that
" if this section is altered in any way, it will cur-
tail the great principles for which we contend." °

° Mr. Trumbull asserts that " writers and historians are in
error when attributing- to Mr. Morse of Suffield (the Baptist
minister aforementioned) the drafting- of the Article on Reli-
gious Liberty. The drafting committee were Messrs. Tomlinson
and Stow, and the first clause, as reported, seems to have been
taken with slight alteration from Governor Wolcott's speech

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 491

The first section was finally adopted by a vote
of 103 to 86, while a motion to strike out the
second section was rejected by 105 to 84. On its
final revision it read : —

Sec. 1. It being the duty of all men to worship
the Supreme Being, the Great Creator and Preserver
of the Universe, and their right to render that wor-
ship in the mode most consistent with the dictates of
their consciences ; no person shall, by law, be compelled
to join or support, nor be classed with, or associated
to, any congregation, church, or religious association.
But every person now belonging to such congregation,
church, or religious association, shall remain a member
thereof, until he shall have separated himself there-
from, in the manner hereinafter provided. And each
and every society or denomination of Christians, in
this state, shall have and enjoy the same and equal
powers, rights and privileges ; and shall have power
and authority to support and maintain the ministers
or teachers of their respective denominations, and to
build and repair houses for public worship, by a tax
on the members of any such society only, to be laid
by a major vote of the legal voters assembled at any
such society meeting, warned and held according to
law, or in any other manner."

to the General Assembly, May, 1817, namely, ' It is the right
and duty of every man publicly and privately to worship and
adore the Supreme Creator and Preserver of the Universe in the
manner most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience.' "
— J. H. Trumbull, Notes on the Constitution, pp. 5G, 57.
a The second section remained unchanged.

492 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

During: the last revision of the constitution
Mr. Terry had offered the two amendments that
continue the old ecclesiastical societies as cor-
porate bodies.217

The draft of the whole constitution was read
through for the last time as amended and ready
for acceptance or rejection, and put to vote on
September 15, 1818. It was passed by 134 yeas
to 61 nays. The constitution then wrent before
the people for their consideration0 and ratifica-
tion. For a while its fate seemed doubtful ;
but by the loyalty of the Federal members of
the convention and their efforts in their own
districts the whole state gave a majority for rat-
ification. The southern counties, with a vote of
11,181, gave a majority for ratification of 2843 ;
the northern counties, with a vote of 15,101,
gave a majority against ratification of 1189.218

The Toleration party as such had triumphed,
and they felt that they had won all they had
promised the people, for they had secured " the
same and equal powers, rights and privileges to
all denominations of Christians." They had also
cleared the way for a broader suffrage and for
the proper election laws to guarantee it. At the
last two elections the Republicans in the Tol-
eration party had carefully separated state and

a Seven hundred copies were distributed among the towns.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 493

national issues, and had in large measure forborne
from criticism of the partisan government, in-
sisting that the people's decision at the polls
would give them — the people — rather than any
political party, the power to correct existing
abuses. The Republicans also insisted that the
Tolerationists, no matter what their previous
party affiliation, would with one accord obey the
behests of the sovereign people. But when the
constitution was an assured fact the Republicans
felt that the Federalist influence had dominated
the convention, and the Federalists that alto-
gether too much had been accorded to the radical
party. Nevertheless it was the loyalty of the
Federal members of the convention that won
the small majority for the Tolerationists and
for the new constitution, even if that loyalty was
founded upon the belief, held by many, that the
choice of evils lay in voting for the new regime.

The constitution of 1818 was modeled on the
old charter, and retained much that was useful
in the earlier instrument. The more important
changes were: (1) The clearer definition and
better distribution of the powers of government.
(2) Rights of suffrage were established upon
personal qualifications, and election laws were
guaranteed to be so modified that voting should
be convenient and expeditious, and its returns

494 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS

correct. (3) The courts were reorganized, and
the number of judges was reduced nearly one
half, while the terms of those in higher courts
were made to depend upon an age limit (that oi
seventy years), efficiency, and good behavior.
Their removal could be only upon impeachment
or upon the request of at least two thirds of the
members of each house. Judges of the lower
courts, justices of the peace, were still to be ap-
pointed annually by the legislature, and to it the
appointment of the sheriffs was transferred.0 (4)
Amendments to the constitution were provided
for. (5) Annual elections and annual sessions of
the legislature, alternating between Hartford and
New Haven, were arranged for, and by this one
change alone the state was saved a yearly ex-
pense estimated at $14,000, a large sum in those
days. (6) The governor b was given the veto

a By later amendments, judges of the Supreme Court of
Errors and the Superior Court are nominated hy the governor
and appointed hy the General Assembly. Judges of probate
are now elected by the electors in their respective districts ;
justices of the peace in the several towns by the electors in
said towns ; and sheriffs by their counties.

b By amendment of 1901, the vote for governor, lieutenant-
governor, secretary, treasurer, comptroller, and attorney-gen-
eral was changed from a majority to a plurality vote, the
Assembly to decide between candidates, if at any time two
or more should receive "an equal and the greatest number "

Of VOt< s.

LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT 495

power, although a simple majority of the legisla-
ture could override it. (7) The salaries of the
governor, lieutenant-governor, senators, and re-
presentatives were fixed by statute, and were not
alterable to affect the incumbent during his term
of office. (8) And finally, the union of Church
and State was dissolved, and all religious bodies
were placed upon a basis of voluntary support.

Among the minor changes, the law that before
the constitution of 1818 had conferred the right
of marrying people upon the located ministers
and magistrates only, thereby practically exclud-
ing Baptist, Methodist and Universalist clergy,
now extended it to these latter. While formerly
the only literary institution favored was Yale
College, Trinity College, despite a strong oppo-
sition, was soon given its charter, and one was
granted later to the Methodists for Wesleyan
College at Middletown. Moreover, the govern-
ment appropriated to both institutions a small
grant. The teaching of the catechism, previously
enforced by law in every school, became optional.
Soon a normal school, free to all within the state,
was opened. The support of religion was left
wholly to voluntary contributions.0 The political

a " It cut the churches loose from dependence upon state
support. It threw them wholly on their own resources and on
God." " The mass is changing," wrote Dr. Beecher. "We are

496 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN CONNECTICUT

influence of the Congregational clergy was gone.
" The lower magistracy was distributed as equally
as possible among the various political and re-
ligious interests," and the higher courts were
composed of judges of different political opinions.
The battle for religious liberty was won, Church
and State divorced, politics and religion torn
asunder. The day of complete religious liberty
had dawned in Connecticut, and in a few years
the strongest supporters of the old system would
acknowledge the superiority of the new. As the
" old order changed, yielding place to new," many
were doubtful, many were fearful, and many
there were who in after years, as they looked
backward, would have expressed themselves in
the frank words of one of their noblest leaders : a
" For several clays, I suffered what no tongue can
tell for the best thing that eve?' happened to the
State of Connecticut"

becoming another people. The old laws answered when all
men in a parish were of one faith." — Lyman Beecher, Auto-
biography, i, pp. 344, 453.
11 Lyman Beecher.

APPENDIX

NOTES

Chapter I. The Evolution of Early Congrega-
tionalism.

1, p. 3. H. M. Dexter, Congregationalism as seen in Lit-
erature, p. 49.

2, p. 8. Robert Browne, A True and Short Declaration,
p.l.

3, p. 9. H. M. Dexter, Congregationalism as seen in Lit-
erature, p. 70.

4, p. 11. Report of Conference April 3, 1590, quoted in
F. J. Powicke, Henry Barrowe, p. 54.

5, p. 13. W. Walker, Creeds and Platforms, p. 12.

6, p. 13. Ibid., pp. 14, 15 ; also H. M. Dexter, Congrega-
tionalism as seen in Literature, pp. 96-104.

7, p. 13. Robert Browne, A Treatise on Reformation with-
out Tarrying, pp. 4, 7, 12.

8, p. 13. Robert Browne, A True and Short Declaration,
p. 7 ; Book which Sheweth, pp. 117-148.

9, p. 13. Robert Browne, Book which Sheweth, Questions
55-58.

10, p. 15. Ibid., Def. 35-40; Henry Barrowe, Discovery
of False Churches, p. 34, and The True Description in
Appendix IV of F. J. Powicke's Henry Barrowe.

11, p. 15. Robert Browne, Book which Sheweth, Def. 53
and 54.

12, p. 16. Henry Barrowe, Discovery of False Churches,
p. 48.

13, p. 19. Henry Barrowe, Discovery of False Churches,
pp. 166, 275; Robert Browne, Book which Sheweth,
Def. 51; A True and Short Declaration, p. 20; The
True Confession of Faith, Article 38.

14, p. 21. H. M. Dexter, Congregationalism as seen in

500 NOTES

Literature, pp. 221, 232 ; also John Brown, Pilgrim
Fathers of New England, pp. 22-25.

15, p. 32. The True Confession, Art. 39.

16, p. 33. " The Seven Articles," of which the following
is the text: —

(1) " To ye confession of fayth published in ye name of ye Church
of England and to every artikell thereof wee do wth ye reformed
churches wheer wee live & also els where assent wholly."

(2) "And as wee do acknowlidg yc doctryne of fayth theer
tawght so do wee ye fruites and effeckts of ye same docktryne to
ye begetting of saving fayth in thousands in ye land (conformistes
& ref ormistes) as ye ar called wth whom also as w* our brethren
wee do desyer to keepe speirtuall communion in peace and will
pracktis in our parts all lawful thinges."

(3) " The King's Majesty wee acknowlidg for Supreme Gover-
nor in his dominion in all causes, and over all parsons [persons]
and y* none maye decklyne or apeale his authority or judgment in
any cause whatsoever, but y' in all thinges obedience is dewe unto
him, either active, if ye thing commanded be not against God's
woord, or passive yf itt bee, except pardon can bee obtayned."

(4) " Wee judge itt lawfull for his Majesty to apoynt bishops,
civill overseers, or officers in awthoryty onder hime in ye sever-
all provinces, dioses, congregations or parishes, to oversee ye
churches, and goveme them civilly according to ye Lawes of ye
Land, untto whom ye ar in all thinges to geve an account and by
them to bee ordered according to Godlyness." (This is not an
acknowledgment of spiritual superiority or authority, only the
recognition that as church officers were also magistrates, the
king could appoint them as his civil servants.)

(5) " The authority of ye present bishops in ye land wee do
acknowlidg so far forth as ye same is indeed derived from his
Majesty untto them and as ye proseed in his name, whom wee
will also therein honor in all thinges and hime in them."

(6) " Wee believe y4 no sinod, classes, convocation or assembly
of Ecclesiastical Officers hath any power or authority att all but
ye same by ye Majestraet given unto them." (Intended to be a
denial of Presbyterianism.)

(7) " Lastly wee desyer to geve untto all Superiors dew honour
to preserve ye unity of ye spiritt wth all yl feare God to have
peace wth all men what in us lyeth and wherein wee err to bee
instructed by any." (Text of Points of Difference and Seven
Articles in W. Walker, Creeds and Platforms, pp. 75-93.)

Chapter II. The Transplanting of Congregation-
alism.

17, p. 45. The Commons prayed, "that no man hereafter
be compelled to make or yield any gift, loan, benevo-

NOTES 501

lence, tax, or such like charge, without common con-
sent by Act of Parliament. And that none be called to
make answer, op to take such oaths, or to be confined
or otherwise molested or disputed concerning the same,
or for refusal thereof. And that no freeman may in
such manner as is before mentioned be imprisoned or
detained." — Extract from the Petition of Right. See
J. R. Green, Short History of the English People, pp.
486, 487.

18, p. 45. E. H. Byington, The Puritan in England and
New England, pp. 486, 487.

19, p. 54. See Gott's Letter in Bradford's Letter-Book,
Mass. Hist. Soc, iii, 67, 68.

20, p. 54. G. L. Walker, History of the First Church in
Hartford, p. 154.

Chapter III. Church and State in New England.

21, p. 60. Thomas Hooker, Survey of Church Discipline,
chap. 3, p. 75; also Mass. Col. Rec, iii, 424; J. Cotton,
Way of the Churches, pp. 6, 7.

22, p. 60. J. Cotton, Way of the Churches, pp. 6, 7; Plym-
outh Col. Rec, ii, 67; Mass. Col. Rec, i, 216, iii, 354;
Hartford Town Voter, in Conn. Hist. Soc. Coll., vi, 32;
Conn. Col. Rec, i, 311, 545.

23, p. 62. Plymouth Col. Laws, ed. 1836, p. 258; Conn.
Col. Rec, i, pp. 96, 138, 290, 331, 389, 525.

24, p. 65. J. Cotton, A Discourse about Civil Government
in a New Plantation whose Design is Religion (written
many years since), London, 1643, pp. 12, 19. (This is
a misprint in the title-page, for the author was John
Davenport.)

25, p. 65. Mass. Col. Rec, i, 87.

26, p. 66. J. Cotton, Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, pp.
50, 53.

27, p. 66. Mass. Law of 1636; Conn. Col. Rec, i, 341.

28, p. 66. Conn. Col. Rec, i, 525.

29, p. 67. G. F. Ellis, Puritan Age in Massachusetts, p. 34.

30, p. 68. Winthrop, i, 81.

31, p. 69. Mass. Col. Rec, i, 142.

502 NOTES

32, p. 71. Winthrop, i, 287; H. M. Dexter, Ecclesiastical
Councils of New England, p. 31.

33, p. 71. J. A. Doyle, Puritan Colonies, ii, 70.

Chapter IV. The Cambridge Platform and the
Half- Way Covenant.

34, p. 79. C. Mather, Magnalia, ii, 277.

35, p. 80. Horace Bushnell, in Discourse on Christian Nur-
ture, p. 25.

36, p. 96. Cotton Mather, Magnalia, ii, 179.

37, p. 104. Results of Half-Way Covenant Convention,
Prop. 4. See W. Walker, Creeds and Platforms, p. 296.

38, p. 104. W. Walker, Creeds and Platforms, p. 295. See
Question 7, of Results.

39, p. 110. Conn. Col. Rec, i, 386, 426.

40, p. 111. Conn. State Papers (Ecclesiastical), vol. i, Doc.
106. Quoted in the Church Review and Ecclesiastical
Register, x, p. 116.

41, p. 112. Beardsley, Hist, of the Church in Connecticut,
i, 101 ; Perry, Hist, of Epis. Church in the United States,
i, 283, 284.

42, p. 113. Conn. Col. Rec, i, 437, 438.

43, p. 114. G-. L. Walker, Hist, of First Church in Hart-
ford, p. 200.

44, p. 115. Record of the United Colonies, i, 506.

45, p. 118. G. L. Walker, Hist, of First Church in Hart-
ford, p. 209.

46, p. 119. L. Bacon, Contr. to Eccl. Hist, of Connecticut,
p. 29.

47, p. 119. E. Stiles, Christian Union, p. 85; J. A. Doyle,
Puritan Colonies, ii, 69; Conn. Col. Rec, i, 545; ii, 290
and 557.

48, p. 119. Conn. Col. Rec, vii, 33; viii, 74.

Chapter V. A Period of Transition.

49, p. 123. Thomas Prince, Christian History, i, 94.

50, p. 126. Preface to Work of the Reforming Synod.

51, p. 126. C. Mather, Magnalia, Book v, p. 40.

52, p. 130. C. Mather, Ratio Discipline, p. 17.

NOTES 503

53, p. 132. C. M. Andrews, Three River Towns, p. 86. See
also Bronson, Early Government, in New Haven Hist.
Soc. Papers, iii, 315; Conn. Col. Rec, 290-293, 321,
354.

54, p. 136. Conn. Col. Rec., v, 67.

55, p. 136. L. Bacon, Contr. to Eccl. History, p. 33.

56, p. 137. Conn. Col. Rec, v, 87.

Chapter VI. The Saybrook Platform.

57, p. 141. .Saybrook Platform.

58, p. 143. L. Bacon, Thirteen Historical Discourses, pp.
190, 191.

59, p. 144. S. Stoddard, Instituted Churches, p. 29.

60, p. 144. Trumbull, Hist, of Connecticut, i, 406; T. Clap,
Hist, of Yale College, p. 30.

61, p. 145. Trumbull, Hist, of Connecticut, i, 406.

62, p. 145. L. Bacon, Thirteen Historical Discourses, p.
190.

63, p. 146. H. M. Dexter, Congregationalism as seen in
Literature, pp. 489, 490.

64, p. 147. Conn. Col. Rec, v, 87.

65, p. 149. Ibid., v, 50.

66, p. 152. A. Johnston, Connecticut, p. 232.

Chapter VII. The Saybrook Platform and the
Toleration Act.

67, p. 163. John Bolles, A Relation of the Opposition some
Baptist People met at Norwich in 1761.

68, p. 164. Ibid., p. 7.

69, p. 166. Quaker Laws. The New Haven Laws against
Quakers deal thus fiercely: —

" Whereas there is a cursed sect of heretics lately risen up in
the world, which are commonly called Quakers, who take upon
them that they are immediately sent of God- and infallibly
assisted by his spirit, who yet write and speak blasphemous
opinions, despise governments and the order of God, in church
and commonwealth ... we do hereby order and declare

" That whosoever shall hereafter bring, or cause to be brought,
directly or indirectly, any known Quaker or Quakers, or other
blasphemous heretics, into this jurisdiction, every such person
shall forfeit the sum of 500 pounds to the jurisdiction, except it

504 NOTES

appear that he wanted true knowledge or information of their
heing such . . . and it is hereby ordered that what Quaker or
Quakers soever come into this jurisdiction, from foreign parts or
places adjacent, if it be about their civil, lawful occasions to be
quickly despatched among us, which time of stay shall be limited
by the civil authority in each plantation, and that they shall not
use any means by words, writings, books, or any other way, to go
about to seduce others, nor revile nor reproach, nor any other
way make disturbance or offend. They shall upon their first
arrival, or coming in, appear to be brougbt before the authorities
of the place and from them have license to put about and issue
their lawful occasions, and shall have one or more to attend upon
them at their charge until such occasions of theirs be discharged,
and they return out of the jurisdiction which if they refuse to do,
they shall be denied such free passage and commerce and be
caused to return back again, but if this first time they shall offend
in any of the ways as before expressed, and contrary to the
intent of this law, they shall be committed to prison, severely
whipped, kept to work, and none suffered to converse with them
during their imprisonment, which shall be no longer than neces-
sity requires, and at their own charge sent out of the jurisdiction."

For a second offense, they were to be branded, as well as to be
committed to prison. For a fourth offense, they were to have
their tongues bored through with hot irons. Their books, papers,
etc., were to subject their possessors to a fine of 5 pounds, and en-
tertaining or concealing a Quaker was to be punished by a fine of
20s. ; while undertaking to defend any of their heretical opinions
was doubly fined. — New Haven Col. Eec, ii, 217, 238, 363.

In 1656, the Connecticut Court, in conformity to a suggestion
from the commissioners of the United Colonies, ordered that " no
towne within this jurisdiction shall entertaine any Quakers,
Ranters, Adamites, or such notorious heretiques, or suffer them
to continue with them above the space of fourteen days, . . . and
shall give notice to the two next towns to send them on their
way under penalty of £5 per week for any town entertaining any
such person, nor shall any master of a ship land such or any."
In August, 1657, the above fine was imposed on the individual
who entertained the Quaker, etc., as well as on the town, and an
officer was appointed to examine suspects. A little later, a
penalty of 10s. was imposed for Quaker books and MSS. found in
the possession of any but a teaching elder. Twice the Court saw
fit to leave, notwithstanding all former orders, all such cases
to the jurisdiction of the separate towns, to order fines, banish-
ment, or corporal punishment, provided the fines " exceed not
ten pounds."

The tone is brief and businesslike, dealing with a matter that
had already caused great trouble to the other United Colonies,
and which might become a menace to Connecticut. There are
almost no recorded cases of sentence being imposed.

See Conn. Col. llec, i, 283, 303, 308, 324.

NOTES 505

70, p. 166. J. Bowden, History of the Society of Friends,
i, 104, quoting Norton's Ensign, p. 52.

71, p. 167. Ibid., i, 106.

72, p. 167. Ibid., i, 440.

73, p. 170. R. P. Hallowell, The Pioneer Quakers, p. 47.

74, p. 171. R. R. Hinman, Antiquities of the Charter
Government of Connecticut, p. 229.

75, p. 175. E. E. Beardsley, History of the Episcopal
Church in Connecticut, i, 19.

76, p. 175. A. L. Cross, Anglican Episcopate in the Ameri-
can Colonies, pp. 33 et seq.

77, p. 177. Ibid., p. 95, note.

78, p. 177. C. F. Hawkins, Missions of the Church of Eng-
land, 377, 378.

79, p. 180. Church Documents, Conn., i, 14.

80, p. 185. Ibid., i, 59.

81, p. 186. Ibid., i, 136.

Chapter VIII. The First Victory for Dissent.

82, p. 194. Church Documents, Conn., i, 153.

83, p. 197. Ibid., i, 56.

84, p. 197. S. D. McConnell, History of the American
Episcopal Church, p. 132.

85, p. 201. Conn. Col. Rec, viii, 106 ; and Church Docu-
ments, Conn., i, 280, 283.

86, p. 202. Conn. Col. Rec, vii, 459, and viii, 123, 334.

87, p. 205. Rogerine Laws. See Conn. Col. Rec, v. 248,
249.

88, p. 207. C. W. Bowen, The Boundary Disputes of
Connecticut, especially pp. 48, 58, and 74.

89, p. 207. The Talcott Papers, published in vols, iv and v
of the Conn. Hist. Soc Collections.

90, p. 209. Conn. Col. Rec, iv, 307.

91, p. 210. Talcott Papers, i, 147, 189, and ii, 245, 246,
in Conn. Hist. Soc. Collections, vols, iv and v.

92, p. 214. C. M. Andrews, The Connecticut Intestacy
Law, in Yale Review, iii, 261 et seq.

93, p. 216. Conn. Col. Rec, vii, 237.

94, p. 217. Ibid., vii, 257.

506 NOTES

Chapter IX. The Great Awakening.

95, p. 223. Jonathan Edwards' Works, iv, 306-324.

96, p. 224, Ibid., iv, 81.

97, p. 225. Lauer, Church and State, p. 77 ; also Conn.
Col. Rec, vi, 33.

98, p. 226. A. Johnston, Hist, of Conn., pp. 255, 256; also
H. Bronson, Historical Account of Conn. Currency, in
New Haven Hist. Soc. Papers, i, 51 et seq.

99, p. 227. Joseph Tracy, The Great Awakening, p. 13.

100, p. 231. Edwards' Works, iv, 34-37.

Chapter X. The Great Schism.

101, p. 233. Conn. Col. Rec, vii, 309.

102, p. 235. Ibid., viii, 522.

103, p. 238. Charles Chauncy, Seasonable Thoughts, p.
249.

104, p. 240. Conn. Col. Rec, viii, 438, 468 ; also Joseph
Tracy, The Great Awakening, p. 303.

105, p. 243. Conn. Col. Rec, viii, 454 et seq.; B. Trum-
bull, Hist, of Connecticut, ii, 165; C. Chauncy, Season-
able Thoughts, p. 41.

106, p. 243. Conn. Col. Rec, viii, 456.

107, p. 244. Ibid., viii, 456.

108, p. 244. Ibid., viii, 457.

109, p. 245. Trumbull, Hist, of Conn., ii, 135.

110, p. 248. S. W. S. Dutton, Hist, of the North Church
in New Haven.

111, p. 248. E. D. Larned, Hist, of Windham County, vol.
ii, book 5, chapter 3.

112, p. 248. O. W. Means, Hist, of the Enfield Separate
Church.

113, p. 252. Conn. Col. Rec, October, 1751.

114, p. 254. E. D. Larned, Hist, of Windham County, vol.
ii, book 5, chapter 3.

115, p. 255. Conn. Col. Rec, viii, 501.

116, p. 255. Ibid., viii, 502.

117, p. 256. E. D. Larned, Hist, of Windham County,
ii, 417, 419, 425, 426 ; L. Bacon, Thirteen Historical
Discourses, p. 245.

NOTES 507

118, p. 257. Solomon Paine's View, pp. 15, 16.

119, p. 258. Thomas Clap, History of Yale, p. 27.

120, p. 258. G. P. Fisher, Church of Christ in Yale Col-
lege, app. 6. i

121, p. 260. E. D. Larned, History of Windham County,
i, 425, 426.

122, p. 261. S. L. Blake, The Separatists, pp. 183, 192.
(This book gives the origin and end of every Separate
church.) Also O. W. Means, History of the Enfield
Separate Church.

123, p. 262. Conn. Col. Rec, xii, 269, 341.

124, p. 263. Ibid., viii, 507.

125, p. 263. Trumbull, History of Connecticut, i, 132,
133.

126, p. 267. W. C. Reichel, Dedication of Monuments
erected by the Moravian Historical Societies in New
York and Connecticut.

G. H. Loskiel, Hist, of Missions of the United Breth-
ren among the Indians of North America.

J. Heck welder, Missions of the United Brethren
among the Delaware and Mohegan Indians, pp. 51
et seq.

127, p. 267. Conn. Col. Rec, ix, 218.

128, p. 268. I. Backus, History of the Baptists, ii, 80.

129, p. 271. H. M. Dexter, Congregationalism as seen in
Literature, p. 503.

Chapter XL The Abrogation of the Saybrook
Platform.

130, p. 277. Frederick Dennison, Notes of the Baptists
and their Principles in Norwich, Conn., p. 10.

131, p. 278. Ibid., p. 16.

132, p. 278. Stiles, Ancient Windsor, p. 439.

133, p. 278. C. H. S. Davis, Hist, of Wallingford, pp. 164-
210.

134, p. 279. " To the King's Most Excellent Majesty in
Council." (Quoted in Frederick Dennison, Notes of
the Baptists.)

135, p. 281. T. Clap, History of Yale, pp. 41-60.

508 NOTES

136, p. 286. Quoted by E. H. Gillett, Civil Liberty in
Connecticut, Historical Magazine, 2d series, vol. iv.

137, p. 287. E. D. Lamed, History of Windham County, i,
468.

138, p. 289. Thomas Darling, Some Remarks, p. 6.

139, p. 289. Ibid., p. 41.

140, p. 290. Ibid., pp. 43, 46.

141, p. 291. Robert Ross, Plain Address, p. 54.

142, p. 293. E. Frothingham, Key to Unlock, p. 147.

143, p. 294. Ibid., pp. 56, 58.

144, p. 294. Ibid., pp. 51-53.

145, p. 295. Ibid., p. 42.

146, p. 296. Ibid., p. 156.

147, p. 297. Ibid., p. 181.

148, p. 305. Loomis and Calhoun, Judicial and Civil His-
tory of Connecticut, p. 55.

149, p. 311. M. C. Tyler, Literary History of the Ameri-
can Revolution, i, 133.

150, p. 312. Fulham, MSS. cited in A. L. Cross, Anglican
Episcopate in the American Colonies, p. 115. See also
pp. 122 et seq. and 332, 345.

151, p. 318. A. L. Cross, Anglican Episcopate, pp. 164
and 216. Perry, American Episcopal Church, i, 415.

152, p. 319. Minutes of the Association, i, 3.

153, p. 326. F. M. Caulkins, History of Norwich, p. 363.

154, p. 328. Conn. Col. Rec, xiii, 360.

155, p. 329. I. Backus, History of the Baptists, ii, 340.

156, p. 329. E. D. Larned, History of Windham County,
ii, 103.

157, p. 330. I. Backus, An Appeal to the Public for Reli-
gious Liberty, Boston, 1773, p. 28.

158, p. 330. Ibid., p. 13.

159, p. 331. Ibid., pp. 43-48.

160, p. 333. John Wise, Vindication, Edition of 1717,
p. 84.

161, p. 334. Public Records of the State of Connecticut,
i, 232.

162, p. 335. Quoted in E. H. Gillett, Civil Liberty in Con-
necticut, Hist. Magazine, 1868.

NOTES 509

163, p. 336. I. Backus, History of the Baptists, ii, 304.

164, p. 336. Minutes of Hartford North Association.

165, p. 338. I. Foster, Defense of Religious Liberty, pp.
30, 32 ; also 135 and 142.

166, p. 338. Acts and Laws of the State of Connecticut,
1784, pp. 21, 22, 213, 235.

Chapter XII. Connecticut at the Close of the
Revolution.

167, p. 346. P. K. Kilbourne, History of Litchfield, pp.
166, 169.

168, p. 346. James Morris, Statistical Account of the
Towns of Litchfield County.

169, p. 349. Judge Church, in. his Litchfield County Cen-
tennial Address.

170, p. 349. J. D. Champlin, Jr., "Litchfield Hill."

171, p. 350. Noah Webster, Collection of Essays (ed. of
1790), p. 379.

172, p. 351. Ibid., p. 338.

173, p.. 351. Ibid., p. 338.

174, p. 353. Letter of Sept. 11, 1788, one of the series in
answer to the quotations from Richard Price's " Obser-
vations on the Importance of the American Revolu-
tion." See American Mercury, Feb. 7, 1785. Con-
necticut Journal, Feb. 16, and Connecticut Courant,
Feb. 22, 1785.

175, p. 355. James Schouler, History of the United
States, i, 53.

176, p. 360. Isaac Backus, The Liberal Support of the
Gospel Minister, p. 35.

177, p. 360. Report of Superintendent of Public Schools,
1853, pp. 62, 63.

178, p. 361. W. Walker, The Congregationalists, pp. 311
et seq.

179, p. 362. John Lewis, Christian Forbearance, p. 31.

180, p. 363. E. Stiles, Diary, i, 21.

181, p. 365. H. M. Dexter, Congregationalism as seen in
Literature, p. 523.

510 NOTES

Chapter XIII. Certificate Laws and Western
Land Bills.

182, p. 372. Acts and Laws of the State of Connecticut
(ed. of 1784), pp. 403, 404.

183, p. 373. Courant, May 28, 1791.

184, p. 374. Ibid., May 28, 1791.

185, p. 376. J. Leland, High Flying Churchman, pp. 10,
11, 16, 17.

186, p. 376. Acts and Laws (ed. of 1784), p. 418.

187, p. 378. Ibid., p. 417.

188, p. 382. Cited from Report of the Superintendent of
Public Schools, 1853, p. 65.

189, p. 385. The American Mercury, Feb. 24 and Apr.
17, 1794.

190, p. 388. J. Leland, A Blow at the Root, pp. 7, 8.

191, p. 389. See Rep. of Supt. of Public Schools, 1853,
pp. 74-95.

192, p. 390. Ibid., pp. 101, 102.

193, p. 390. Published in Courant of March 16, 23 and
30, 1795.

194, p. 390. See Hollister, Hist, of Connecticut, ii, 568-
575; Report of Superintendent of Public Schools, 1853;
Swift's System of Laws, i, 142 et seq.

Chapter XIV. The Development of Political Par-
ties in Connecticut.

195, p. 399. Wolcott Manuscript, in vol. iv, Library of
Conn. Historical Society, Hartford, Conn.

196, p. 403. Judge Church's Manuscript, deposited with
New Haven Historical Society.

197, p. 404. Swift, System of the Laws of Connecticut,
i, 55-58.

198, p. 408. Hollister, Hist, of Connecticut, ii, 510-514,
quoting Judge Church.

199, p. 412. D. G. Mitchell, American Lands and Let-
ters, i, 142 ; F. B. Dexter, Hist, of Yale, p. 87.

200, p. 414. Minutes of the General Association, Report
of the Session of 1797.

NOTES 511

201, p. 425. A. Bishop, Proofs of a Conspiracy, p. 32.

202, p. 427. Connecticut Journal, April 30, 1816, quotes
the Petition and reply.

203, p. 430. J. Leland, Van Tromp lowering his Peak, p.
33.

204, p. 431. A. Bishop, Oration in Honor of the Election
of Jefferson, pp. 9, 10, 11-16.

205, p. 437. Judge Church's Manuscript.

206, p. 438. Lyman Beecher, Autobiography, i, 257, 259,
260, 342, 343.

207, p. 450. Constitution of the United States, Article
II, Sect, ii, 1; Art. I, Sect, viii, 15. For the corre-
spondence between General Dearborn and Gov. J. C.
Smith, see Niles' Register, viii, 209-212.

208, p. 461. Hildreth, History of United States, vi, 319-
325; Schouler, Hist, of United States, ii, 270.

209, p. 463. Niles' Register, viii, 291; ix, 171; also Amer-
ican Mercury of April 19, 1815.

210, p. 464. New Haven Register, and also the American
Mercury of Feb. 12, 1817.

211, p. 467. Niles' Register, xi, 80.

212, p. 475. Swift, System of Law, i, 74.

213, p. 477. Swift, Vindication of the calling of the Spe-
cial Superior Court, pp. 40^12.

214, p. 482. Report of the Committee. See also J. H.
Trumbull, Historical Notes, pp. 43-47.

215, p. 487. Connecticut Courant of Aug. 25, 1818.

216, p. 487. J. H. Trumbull, Historical Notes, pp. 55, 56.

217, p. 492. Journal of the Convention, pp. 49, 67. (The
Connecticut Courant and the American Mercury pub-
lished the debates of the Convention in full as they
occurred.)

218, p. 492. Trumbull, Historical Notes, p. 60. See also
the text, preceding this note, p. 483.

The Constitution of 1818, admirable for the conditions of that
time, leaves now large room for betterment. The century-old
habit of legislative interference was not wholly uprooted in 1818,
and soon began to grow apace. The Constitution stands to-day
with its original eleven articles and with thirty-one amendments,

512 NOTES

some of which, at least in their working, are directly opposed to
the spirit of the framers of the commonwealth. The old cry of
excessive legislative power is heard again, for the legislature hy
a majority of one may override the governor's veto, and, through
its powers of confirmation and appointment, it may measurably
control the executive department and the judicial. Moreover,
apart from these defects in the constitution, certain economic
changes have resulted in a disproportionate representation in the
House of Representatives. The Joint-Stock Act of 1837 gave birth
to great corporations, and with railroads soon developed the for-
mation of large manufacturing plants. As a result, there was a
rush, at first, of the native born, and, later, of large numbers of
immigrants, who swelled the population, to the cities. This, to-
gether with the development of the great grain-producing western
states, changed Connecticut from an agricultural to a manufac-
turing state, and from a producer of her own foodstuffs to a con-
sumer of those which she must import from other states.

Such shifting of the population has produced a condition where
a bare majority of one in a House of two hundred and fifty-five
members may pass a measure that really represents the senti-
ment of but one-fifteenth of the voters of the state. There re-
sults a system of rotten boroughs and the opportunity for a well-
organized lobby and the moneyed control of votes. It is asserted
that the first section of the bill of rights, namely, " That no man
or set of men are entitled to exclusive public emoluments or priv-
ileges from the community," is constantly violated by this mis-
representation, which especially affects the population in the
cities, and is felt not only in all state measures, but in all local
ones about which the legislature must be consulted. As an illus-
tration of the inequality of representation, the following figures
are given. In the Constitutional Convention of 1818, 81 towns sent
two delegates each, and 39 towns sent one from communities out
of which 11 had a population of less than 1000, and 100 ranged
between 1000 and 4000, while only 9 surpassed this last number.
In the Constitutional Convention of 1902, 87 towns, with an aggre-
gate population of 781,954, sent each two delegates, while 81, with
a combined population of 120,411, sent each one delegate. Thus
it happened that in 1902, New Haven, population 108,027, sent two
delegates, and the town of Union, population 428, also sent two
delegates, while ten other towns, with a population ranging from
593 to 885 each, sent two delegates.

The " Standing Order" of to-day is not a privileged church, but
a dominant political party strong in the privilege and powers
derived from long tenure of office and intrenched behind consti-
tutional amendments which, in addition to this unequal repre-
sentation in the House, provide for the election of Senators
upon town and county lines rather than upon population. The
Constitutional Reform Party of to-day propose radical measures
to remedy these more glaring defects in the administration of
government, and to consider these, called the Constitutional Con-

NOTES 513

J2SJ12 If2, In * ?e influence of the sma11 towns on the

diafting of the proposed coustitution was so great that, when it
was presented to the people for ratification, an adverse majority
in every county refused to accept it. In fact, only fifteen per

op?nion atealT ^^ th°Ught " W01*th While t0 express *"*

References for the Constitutional Convention of 1902: Clarence

Dennng Town Rule in Connecticut, Political Science Quarter^

frt\TZ\ Ti' "!? M-,B; Carey' The Connecticut Constitution!
(These will be found useful as summing up much of the newspa-
per discussion of the period, and also for the data upon St
the argument for the desired changes is based.) There is also

2tS°TotUt T °f Connecticut' with Notes Ld Statisicsare
gardmg Town Representation in the General Assembly, and
Documents relating to the Constitutional Convention of 1902 »
printed by order of the Comptroller, Hartford, Conn

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. HISTORIES

1. General

A few titles are given of those works found most useful in ac-
quiring a general historic setting for the main topic.

Bancroft, George. History of the United States. New
York, 1889.

Gardiner, S. R. History of England from Accession of
James I. London, 1863.

History of England under the Duke of Buckingham

and Charles I. London, 1875.

History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate.

London and New York, 1894-1903.

Green, John Richard. Short History of the English Peo-
ple. London, 1884.

History of the English People. New York, 1880. 4

vols., chiefly vol. iii.

Hildreth, Richard. History of the United States to 1824.
New York, 1887. 6 vols.

McMaster, John Bach. A History of the People of the
United States from the Revolution to the Civil War.
New York, 1884-1900. 5 vols.

Schouler, James. History of the United States of Amer-
ica under the Constitution. Washington, Philadelphia,
and New York, 1882-99. 6 vols.

Tyler, Moses Coit. A History of American Literature,
1607-1765. New York, 1879. 2 vols.

The Literary History of the American Revolution,

1763-1783. New York and London, 1897. 2 vols.

Winsor, Justin. Narrative and Critical History of Amer-
ica. Cambridge, 1886-89. 8 vols.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 515

2. Special

Adams, Henry. Documents relating to New England

Federalism, 1800-1815. Boston, 1877.
Adams, John. Works with a Life of the Author, Notes

and Illustrations. (Ed. by Charles Francis Adams.)

Boston, 1850-56. 10 vols.
Arber, Edward. The Story of the Pilgrim Fathers, 1606-

1623 A. d. as told by themselves, their Friends and their

Enemies, edited from the original Texts. London, 1897.
Barlow, Joel. Political Writings. New York, 1796.
Bradford, William. History of "Plimoth" Plantation.

Reprint from original MS. with report of proceedings

incident to its return. Boston, 1898.
Brown, John. The Pilgrim Fathers of New England and

their Puritan Successors. London, 1895. Revised Amer-
ican ed. 1897.«
Byington, Ezra B. The Puritan in England and New

England. Boston, 1897.
Campbell, Douglas. The Puritans in Holland, England

and America. New York, 1892. 2 vols.
Cobb, Sanford H. Rise of Religious Liberty in America.

New York and London, 1902.

Pages 236-290 and 512-514 treat of Connecticut, while 454-482
deal with the American Episcopate.

Doyle, John Andrew. The English in America ; The
Puritan Colonies. New York, 1889. 2 vols.

Ellis, George E. The Puritan Age and Rule in the Colony
of Massachusetts Bay, 1629-1685. Boston and New
York, 1888.

Felt, Joseph Barton. The Ecclesiastical History of New
England, comprising not only Religious but Moral and
other Relations. Arranged chronologically and with
index. Boston, 1855-62. 2 vols.

Fish, Carl Russell. The Civil Service and the Patronage.

New York, 1905.

Pages 32-39, Jefferson's removal of Mr. Goodrich of New
Haven.

« This is the edition referred to in text.

516 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fiske, John. The Beginnings of New England; or, The
Puritan Theocracy in its Relations to Civil and Reli-
gious Liberty. Boston and New York, 1880.

Gardiner, S. II. The First Two Stuarts and the Puritan
Revolution, 1603-1660. London, 1887.

Goodwin, John Abbott. The Pilgrim Republic: An His-
torical Review of the Colony of New Plymouth, with
sketches of the Rise of other New England Settlements,
the History of Congregationalism and the Creeds of
the Period [New England to 1732]. Cambridge, 1895.

Heckewelder, J. A Narrative of the Mission of the United
Brethren among the Delaware and Mohigan Indians
from 1740 to 1808. Philadelphia, 1820.

Lauer, P. E. Church and State in New England. Balti-
more, 1892.
Also in Johns Hopkins University Studies, Nos. 2 & 3.

Lodge, Henry Cabot. A Short History of the English
Colonies in America. New York, 1881.

Love, Wm. De Loss, Jr. The Fasts and Thanksgiving
Days of New England. Boston, 1895.
Includes a bibliography.

Loskiel, George H. History of the Missions of the United
Brethren among the Indians in North America. Lon-
don, 1794.

Mather, Cotton. Magnalia Christi Americana; or, The
Ecclesiastical History of New England from its First
Planting in the Year 1620 to the Y"ear of our Lord 1698.
Ed. London, 1702, — Hartford, 1820. 2 vols."
3d ed. with Introduction and occasional Notes by T. Bobbins.

Hartford, 1853, 2 vols.

Mourt's Relation or Journal of a Plantation settled at

Plymouth, in New England and proceedings Thereof.

London, 1622.

-'(1 ed. Annotated by A. Young. Boston, 1841. Also found in
Young's Chronicle of the Pilgrim Fathers. Boston, 184G."

Reprint with illustrative cuts, George B. Cheever, Editor, New
York, 1849.

Reprint ed. by H. M. Dexter. Boston, 1865. (See vol. viii, 1st

« This is the edition referred to in text.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 517

series, Mass. Hist. Soc. Col., also Library of New England His-
tory, vol. i.)

Neal, Daniel. History of the Puritans, or Protestant Non-
conformists : from the Reformation in 1517 to the death
of Queen Elizabeth, with an Account of their principles:
their Attempts for a further Reformation in the Church:
their Sufferings, and the Lives and Characters of their
considerable Divines, etc. London, 1732, 4 vols. Re-
vised ed. London, 1837, 3 vols."

Palfrey, John G. Comprehensive History of New Eng-
land. Boston, 1858-90. 5 vols.

Prince, Thomas. A Chronological History of New Eng-
land in the form of Annals. Boston, 1736. Edited by
Drake with Memoir of the Author. Boston, 1852.°

Reprint in Mass. Hist. Soc. Col., 2d series, vol. vii, 1818. New
edition, edited by N. Hale. Boston, 1826. Found also in Arber's
English Garner, vol. ii, 1879.

Reichel, W. C. Memorial of the Dedication of Monu-
ments erected by Moravian Historical Society to mark
the sites of ancient missionary stations. Philadelphia,
1858.

Schaff, Philip. Religious Liberty. See American Histori-
cal Society Annual Report, 1886-87.

Thornton, J. Wingate. The Pulpit of the American Revo-
lution. Boston, 1876.

Weeden, William B. Economic and Social History of
New England. Boston, 1890. 2 vols.

Winthrop, John. History of New England, 1636-47,
edited by James Savage. Boston, 1853. 2 vols.

Wood, John (Cheetham, James). History of the Admin-
istration of John Adams. New York, 1802.

History of the Administration of J. Adams, with

Notes. New York, 1846.

3. Statistical
Baird, Robert. Religion in America; or An Account of
the Origin, Relation to the State and Present Condi-
« This is the edition referred to in text

518 BIBLIOGRAPHY

tion of the Evangelic Churches in the United States.
New York, 1856.
Bishop, J. Leander. A History of American Manufac-
tures, 1608-1860. 1868. 3 vols.

This includes a history of the origin and growth of the prin-
cipal mechanical arts and manufactures : notice of important in-
ventions ; results of each decennial census ; tariffs ; and statistics
of manufacturing centres. It has a good index by which the in-
dustrial history of each colony and state can be quickly traced.

Bolles, Albert S. The Financial History of the United

States. New York, 1879-86. 3 vols.
Carroll, Henry King. Religious Forces in the United

States, enumerated, classified and described on the

basis of the Government Census of 1890. New York,

1893.
Dorchester, Daniel. Christianity in the United States

from the first settlement down to the present time.

New York and Cincinnati, 1888.
Hayward, John. The Religious Creeds and Statistics of

every Christian Denomination in the United States.

Boston, 1836.

4. Local

Connecticut — State, county, town, etc., of which only the more
important town and county histories, and reports of anniversary
celebrations are given. Those omitted are of small interest out-
side of their respective towns, except to genealogists or to those
whose families chance to be mentioned in the sketch of historical
development or of commercial growth. The many books of this
type contribute general coloring, and some of them a few impor-
tant bits of information, to the story of the development of the
state, but many are not worth enumerating as sources, or as
assistants to the general reader or student.

Allen, Francis Olcott. The History of Enfield, compiled
f rpm all the public records of the town known to exist,
covering from the beginning to 1850. Lancaster, 1900.
3 vols.

Carefully compiled and attested by the town clerk. Includes
also graveyard inscriptions and extracts from Hartford, North-
ampton and Springfield records.

Andrews, Charles M. The River Towns of Connecti-
cut, Wethersfield, Hartford and Windsor. Baltimore,

BIBLIOGRAPHY 519

1889. (Also Johns Hopkins Historical and Political
Science Papers, vii, 341-456.)
At water, Edward E. (editor). History of the City of
New Haven. New York, 1887.

Good for the earlier history, for a few extracts from records ;
contains descriptions of public men and events, also extracts
from old newspapers, etc.

History of the Colony of New Haven to its absorp-
tion into Connecticut. New Haven, 1881.

A much better book, being the best special history of the New
Haven Colony.

Baldwin, Simeon E. Constitutional Reform. A Discus-
sion of the Present Inequalities of Representatives in
the General Assembly [of Connecticut]. New Haven,
1873.

The Early History of the Ballot in Connecticut.

American Historical Association Papers, i, 407-422.
New York, 1890.

The Three Constitutions of Connecticut. In New

Haven Historical Society Papers, vol. v.

Barber, John W. Connecticut Historical Collections.
New Haven, 1856.

A book of brief anecdotal town histories, curious legends, no-
table events, newspaper clippings, together with a goodly number
of illustrations.

Bolles, John Rogers. The Rogerenes : Some hitherto un-
published annals belonging to the Colonial History of
Connecticut. Part 1. A Vindication, by J. R. Bolles.
Part 2. History of the Rogerenes, by Anna B. Wil-
liams. Boston, 1904.

Bowen, Clarence W. The Boundary Disputes of Con-
necticut. Boston, 1882.

Breckenridge, Francis A. Recollections of a New Eng-
land Town (Meriden). Meriden, 1899.
Typical of the life in New England towns, 1800-1850.

Bronson, Henry. Early Government of Connecticut.
(New Haven Historical Society Papers, iii, 293 et
seq.)

520 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bushnell, Horace. " Work and Play," being the first vol-
ume of his " Literary Varieties." New York, 1881.
Contains an historical estimate of Connecticut.

Caulkins, Frances M. History of New London, Con-
necticut. New London, 1852.

History of Norwich, Connecticut. Norwich, 1845.

These two histories are readable, reliable and full of detail,
culled from original records, many of which are now deposited
with the New London Historical Society.

Clap, Thomas. Annals or History of Yale College. New
Haven, 1766.

Cothren, William. History of Ancient Woodbury, Con-
necticut, 1669-1879. (Including Washington, South-
bury, Bethlehem, Roxbury, and part of Oxford and
Middlebury.) Waterbury, 1854, 1872, 1879. 3 vols.

Vols, i and ii, history, with considerable genealogy. Vol. iii,
1679-1879, births, marriages and deaths.

Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. Thomas Clap and his Writ-
ings. See New Haven Historical Society Papers, vol. v.

Sketch of the History of Yale University. New

Haven, 1887.

Dwight, Theodore. History of Connecticut. New York,
1841.

History of Hartford Convention. Hartford, 1833.

Of the 447 pages, 340 are devoted to recounting the events
which led to the calling of the convention, and, with much politi-
cal bias, to the history of Jefferson's political career from 1789,
quoting from official correspondence and his private letters. Pages
340-422 deal with. the convention proper, giving, pp. 383-400, its
"Secret Journal." The Appendix, pp. 422-447, has brief bio-
graphies of the members.

Dwight, Timothy. Travels in New England and New

York. New Haven, 1831. 4 vols.
Dodd, Stephen. The East Haven Register in Three Parts.

New Haven, 1824.

A rare little book of 200 pages compiled by the pastor of the
Congregational Church in East Haven. Part i contains a history
of the town from 1G40 to 1800; part ii, names, marriages, and
births, 1C44-1800; part iii, account of the deaths in families, from
1G47 to 1821

BIBLIOGRAPHY 521

Field, David Dudley. A History of the Towns of Haddam
and East Haddam. Middletown, 1814.

A book of some forty-eight pages, of which six are devoted to
genealogies " taken partly from the records of the towns, and
partly from the information of aged people " by the pastor of the
church in Haddam. Though largely ecclesiastical, its author —
a college A. M. — realizes the value of statistics in references to
population, necrology, taxes, militia, farming, and other indus-
tries, and weaves them into his rambling story.

Statistical Account of the County of Middlesex.

Middletown, 1819.
Fowler, William Chauncey. History of Durham, 1662-

1866.

Includes in chapter xii — pp. 229-443 — extracts irom Town
Records, Ministerial Records, Proprietor's Records.

Gillett, E. H., Rev. The Development of Civil Liberty in
Connecticut. In Historical Magazine, 2d series, vol. iv
(1868), pp. 1-34, Appendices, pp. 34-49. Morrisania,
N. Y., 1868.

Appendix A. Report of the Rev. Elizur Goodrich, D. D., to the
Convention of Delegates from the Synod of New York and Phila-
delphia and from the Associations of Connecticut, held annually
from 1766 to 1775 inclusive (being a statement on the subject of
Religious Liberty in the Colony), with notes by E. H. G. pp. 34-43.

Appendix B. Letter of Rev. Thomas Prince of Boston to Rev.
John Drew of Groton, Conn., May 8, 1744, pp. 43^7. (Sympathizing
with the New Lights.)

Appendix C. Three short paragraphs omitted from the body of
the article.

Appendix D. Extracts from the American reprint of Graham's
" Ecclesiastical Establishments of Europe," pp. 47, 48.

This article in itself contains Israel Holly's "Memorial,"
Joseph Brown's " Letter to Infant Baptisers of North Parish in
New London " (in part) ; also copious citations from the pam-
phlets of Bolles, Frothingham, Bragge, the Autobiography of
Billy Hibbard (Methodist preacher) and extracts from Abraham
Bishop's pamphlets.

Hartford Town Votes, 1635-1716. (Transcribed by
Chas. J. Hoadly.) See Connecticut Historical Society
Collections, 1897, vol. vi.

Hollister, Gideon H. Address in Litchfield, April 9, 1856,
before the Historical and Antiquarian Society, on the

522 BIBLIOGRAPHY

occasion of completing its organization. Hartford,
1856.
Hollister, Gideon H. The History of Connecticut. New
Haven, 1855. 2 vols.

A history of Connecticut from the first settlement of the colony
to the adoption of the present Constitution in 1818.

Hurd, 1). Hamilton. History of Fairfield County, Con-
necticut, with illustrations and Biographical Sketches
of its Prominent Men and Pioneers. Philadelphia,
1881.

Johnson, William Samuel. Letters to the Governors of
Connecticut, 17G6-1771. See Mass. Historical Society
Collections, series 5, vol. ix, pp. 211-490.

Johnston, Alexander. The Genesis of a New England
State, Connecticut. Baltimore, 1883. Revised 1903.
(Also in Johns Hopkins University Studies, vol. i,
no. 11.)

Connecticut; a Study of a Commonwealth Democ-
racy. Boston and New York, 1887. Revised 1903.

Jones, Frederick R. History of Taxation in Connecticut.
Johns Hopkins University Studies in Political Science,
series 14, no. 8. Baltimore, 1896.

Journal of the Proceedings of the Convention of Dele-
gates Convened at Hartford, August 26, 1818. Hart-
ford, 1873. Reprinted by order of the state comp-
troller, Hartford, 1901.

Kilbourne, P. K. Sketches and Churches of the Town of
Litchfield. Historical, biographical, statistical. Hart-
ford, 1859.

An excellent account, drawing in part upon Woodruff's (George
C.) History of Litchfield. is4.r>, and Morris' Statistical Account of
Litchfield County, 1818, with additional matter.

Kingsley, F. J. Old Connecticut. See New Haven Histori-
cal Society Papers, vol. iii.

Kingsley, James Luce. Sketch of Yale College. Boston,
1835.

Lambert, Edward R. History of the Colony of New
Haven, before and after the Union with Connecticut.
New Haven, 1838.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 523

Lamed, Ellen D. History of Windham County. Worces-
ter, 1874. 2 vols.

One of the best of the local histories.

Vol. i, book iii. Account of Canterbury Church difficulties and
of the Clevelands.

Historic Gleanings in Windham County, Connecti-
cut. Providence, 1899.

Levermore, Charles H. The Republic of New Haven.
Also in Johns Hopkins University Studies, extra vol. i.
Baltimore, 1886.

Litchfield Book of Days, A collection of the historical,
biographical and literary reminiscences of Litchfield,
Connecticut. Edited by George C. Boswell. Litch-
field, 1899.

Litchfield County Centennial Celebration, August 13-14,
1851. Hartford, 1851.

Loomis (Dwight) and Calhoun (J. Gilbert). The Judicial
and Civil History of Connecticut. Boston, 1895.

Orcutt, Samuel. History of New Milford and Bridge-
water, Connecticut, 1703-1882. Hartford, 1882.

History of Old Town of Derby. Springfield, 1880.

" Prepared with great fidelity and thoroughness, and to take
rank with the best town histories," wrote Noah Porter on Feb. 1,
1880. Biography and Genealogy, pp. 523-785.

History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City

of Bridgeport. New Haven, 1886. 2 pts.

The Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the
states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, the
Counties of Cheshire and Grafton in the State of New
Hampshire and the County of Windham in the State
of Vermont convened at Hartford in the State of Con-
necticut, December 15, 1814. Hartford, 1815.

Sanford, Elias B. A History of Connecticut. Hartford,
1887.
A school history.

Selleck, Charles M. History of Norwalk. Norwich, 1886.

Statistical Account of the Towns and Parishes in the
State of Connecticut, published by Connecticut Acad-

524 BIBLIOGRAPHY

emy of Arts and Sciences, vol. i, no. 1. New Haven,
1811.
Steiner, Bernard Christian. A History of the Plantation
of Menunkatuck and of the Original Town of Guilford,
Connecticut (present towns of Guilford and Madison)
written largely from the manuscripts of The Hon.
Ralph Dunning Smyth. Baltimore, 1897.

The book draws upon the preceding histories of Guilford,
namely that of the Rev. Thomas Ruggles, Jr., and the later sketch
of Guilford and Madison by Daniel Dudley Field, first written in
1827 for the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences. It was
revised by R. D. Smyth in 1840 and published in 1877 after his
death. Mr. Steiner has added matter derived from a study of tbe
town records and other sources, making a history that covers
all points of development.

Governor William Leete and the absorption of

New Haven by the Colony of Connecticut. American
Historical Association, Annual Report, 1891, pp. 209-
222.

History of Slavery in Connecticut. (See Johns

Hopkins Historical Studies, ii, 30 et seq.) Baltimore,
1893.

Stiles, Ezra. A Discourse on the Christian Union. Brook-
field, 1799.

The Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles, edited under the

authority of the corporation of Yale University by
F. B. Dexter, M. A. New York, 1901. 3 vols.

Stiles, Henry Reed. Ancient Windsor. Hartford, 1891.
2 vols.

Swift, Zephaniah. System of the Laws of the State of
Connecticut. Windham, 1795.

Trumbull, Benjamin. A Complete History of Connecticut,
Civil and Ecclesiastical, 1639 to 1713, continued to
1764. New Haven, 1818. 2 vols.

Reprint with Introductory Notes and Index by Jonathan
Trumbull. New London, 1898.

Trumbull, J. Hammond (Editor). Hartford County Me-
morial History. Hartford, 1886. 2 vols.

Vol. i. part I, Tlio County of Hartford treated topically, as
early history, the colonial period, "Bench and Bar,'' "Medical

BIBLIOGRAPHY 525

History," etc. Part ii, Hartford, Town and City. Vol. ii, Brief
Histories of the different towns.

Trumbull, J. Hammond. Historical Notes of the Consti-
tutions of Connecticut, 1G39 to 1818 ; and Progress of
the Movement which resulted in the Convention of
1818, and the Adoption of the present Constitution.
Hartford, 1873. Reprinted by order of State Comp-
troller, Hartford, 1901.

Origin and Early Progress of Indian Missions in

New England. Worcester, 1874.

Defense of Stonington (Connecticut) against a Brit-
ish Squadron. Hartford, 1864.

The True Blue Laws of Connecticut and New

Haven and the False Blue Laws invented by the Rev.
Samuel Peters. To which are added specimens of the
Laws of other Colonies and some of the Blue Laws of
England. Hartford, 1876.

List of Books printed in Connecticut, 1709-1800

(edited by his daughter Annie E. Trumbull). The list
contains 1741 titles and also a list of printers. Hart-
ford, 1904.

Webster, Noah. Collection of Papers on Political, Liter-
ary and Moral Subjects. New York, 1843.

5. Local Biographies

Bacon, Leonard. Sketch of Life and Public Services of
James Hillhouse. New Haven, 1860.

Blake, B. L. Gurdon Saltonstall. In New London His-
torical Society Papers, part 5, vol. i.

Dexter, Franklin B. Biographical Sketches of Graduates
of Yale. 3 vols. May, 1701-May, 1745; New York,
1885. May, 1745-May, 1763; New York, 1896. May,
1763-May, 1778; New York, 1903.

Kilbourne, P. K. Biographical History of the County of
Litchfield. New York, 1851.

Mitchell, Donald G. American Lands and Letters. 3 vols.

First volume, for early newspapers, the Hartford Wits and
literati of the colonial period.

52G BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sprague, W. B. Annals of the American Pulpit. New
York, 1857-69. 9 vols.

Biographical Sketches in chronological order, contributed by
540 writers of sectarian prominence, and with intent to show de-
velopment of churches and the power of character.

Vols, i and ii, Trinitarian-Congregatioualists. Vols, iii and iv,
Presbyterian. Vol. v, Episcopalians (reference for the Episcopal
Republican coalition in 1818 in Connecticut). Vol. vi, Baptists.
Vol. vii, Methodists. Vol. viii, Unitarians. Vol. ix, Lutherans,
Dutch Reformed, etc.

Tyler, Moses Coit. Three Men of Letters (George Berke-
ley, Timothy D wight and Joel Barlow). New York
and. London, 1895.

B. CONNECTICUT NEWSPAPERS

w. abbreviation for weekly

Hartford
American Mercury, w. Anti-Federal.

Founded July 12, 1784, with Joel Barlow, editor, and Elisha
Babcock, publisher. In 1833 merged into the Independent Press.

Yale University Library has a file practically complete to 1828,
only 20 numbers missing.

Connecticut Courant. iv. Federal, Whig, Republican.

Founded 1764, by Thomas Green as organ of the Loyal Sons of
Liberty ; later supported Washington and Adams ; continued as
the weekly and now daily Hartford Courant. Said to be the old-
est newspaper still published in the United States.

Connecticut Courant and the Weekly Hartford Intelli-
gencer, 1774.

Connecticut Courant and the Weekly Intelligencer, Feb.
1781.

The latter part of title dropped March 21, 1701.

In 1837 tlu' Daily Courant was established. This paper bought
out the Independent Tress (which in turn had absorbed the
American Mercury); and the stall' of the Press, including Charles
Dudley Warner, Gen. J. R. Hawley and Stephen A. Hubbard,
joined William II. Goodrich, who was the business manager of
the < ninaiit.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 527

Connecticut Mirror, w. Federal.

Founded July 10, 1809, by Charles Hosmer, publisher. During
the War of 1812, it was the organ of the " extreme right" of the
Federal party. It was continued until about 1835.

Yale University Library contains an almost complete file up to
1831.

Times, w. Democratic-Republican.

Founded Jan., 1817, with Frederick D. Bolles, publisher, and
M. Niles, editor. Its slogan was" Toleration" and the New Con-
stitution.

March 2, 1841, it became the Daily Times, and still continues.

New Haven
Columbian Register, w. Democrat.

Founded Dec. 1, 1812, Joseph Barber, publisher, to give " pro-
ceedings of Congress, latest news from Europe and history of
New England, particularly of Connecticut." Daily edition, 1845 ;
Sunday edition, 1877.

Yale University has a continuous file.
The Connecticut Gazette, w.

Printed by James Paricer, April, 1755. Suspended April 14, 1764.
Revived by Benjamin Mecom, July 5, 1765. Ended Feb. 19, 1768.

Connecticut Herald. 9b. Federal, Republican.

Founded 1803, by Comstock, Griswold & Co., publishers, Thomas
Green Woodward, editor. A Daily Herald, issued Nov. 16, 1832.
In 1835 its publishers, Woodward & Carrington, bought the
Connecticut Journal. The Daily Herald and Journal of 1846 soon
became, by buying out the Courier, The Morning Journal and
Courier, as now, and its weekly edition, the Connecticut
Herald.

Yale University has a continuous file.

The Connecticut Journal and New Haven Post Boy. w.
Federal.

Founded 1767 by Thomas and Samuel Green. It was started
about four months before the Connecticut Gazette (New Haven).
It failed April 7, 1835, and was sold to Woodward & Carrington,
owners of the Daily Herald.

The title " and New Haven Post Boy " was omitted about
1775. It was known in 1799, for a few months only, as the Con-
necticut Journal and Weekly Advertiser, and in 1809, for a few
months only, as the Connecticut Journal and Advertiser.

Yale's file dates from 1774 to 1835.

The New Haven Gazette and the Connecticut Magazine, w.
Meigs & Dana, Feb. 16, 1786-1798.

528 BIBLIOGRAPHY

New London

The Connecticut Post and New Haven Visitor, w.

Founded Oct. 30, 1802, as the Visitor j title changed Nov. 3, 1803.
Ended its existence about Nov. 8, 1834.

The New London Gazette, w. (Connecticut Gazette.)

Founded by Timothy Green, November, 1763. The earlier Con-
necticut Gazette, published at New Haven, April, 1755- April 14,
17G3, having ended February, 1768, the New London Gazette
adopted the New Haven paper's name. The firm became Timothy
Green & Son, 1789-1794. Samuel Green (the son) conducted the
paper to 1841, except the year 1805, and from 1838 to 1840. Known
as the Connecticut and Universal Intelligencer, Dec. 10, 1773-May
11, 1787.

Yale University files are from 1765 to 1828, except 1775, >76, '77,
and '78.

Outside of Connecticut

Niles' Weekly Register, w. Baltimore, 1811-1849.

It was known from 1811 to 1814 as the Weekly Register j from
1814 to August, 1837, as Niles' Weekly Register, and from 1837 to
1849 as Niles' National Register. It devoted itself to the record
of public events, essays and documents dealing with political,
historical, statistical, economic and biographical matter.

C PUBLIC RECORDS AND OTHERS TOUCH-
ING UPON CONNECTICUT HISTORY

New Haven Colonial Records, ed. by C. J. Hoadly. 2 vols.

1638-1649; 1653-1664. Hartford, 1857-58.
Connecticut, Colonial Records of, ed. by C. J. Hoadly

and J. Hammond Trumbull. 15 vols. 1635-1776.

Hartford, 1850-90.
State of Connecticut, Records of the, ed. by C. J. Hoadly.

2 vols. 1776-1778 ; 1778-1780. Hartford, 1894-95.
United Colonies of New England, Records of the, in vol.

ii. of E. Hazard's " Historical Collections consisting of

State Papers and other authentic Documents, etc."
Plymouth Colony, Records of, ed. by N. R. Shurtleff and

D. Pulsifer. 12 vols. Boston, 1855-61.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 529

Records of the General Association of Connecticut, June
20, 1738, June 19, 1799 ; Hartford, 1888. 8 vols.

Minutes of Proceedings of the General Association, 1818, on.

Proceedings of Connecticut Missionary Society, 1801-
1819.

Report of the Superintendent of Common Schools of
Connecticut, 1853.

This annual report has a detailed account of the Western Land
Bill appropriations, pp. 64-108.

The Constitutions of Connecticut, with Notes and Statis-
tics regarding Town Representation in the General
Assembly, and Documents relating to the Constitutional
Convention of 1902. Printed by Order of the State
Comptroller. Hartford, 1901.

The Code of 1650. In Hinman's " Antiquities of Connecti-
cut."

The Public Statute Laws of the State of Connecticut.
Hartford, 1808.

Acts and Laws, 1784-1794. (Supplements to Oct., 1795,
laid in.) New London, 1784.

Acts and Laws, 1811-1821.

D. HISTORICAL SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS

American Historical Association Annual Report. 1889-

1904.
Connecticut Historical Society Collections. 8 vols.

Especially vol. i, Extract from Hooker's Sermon. VoL ii Hart-
ford Church Papers. Vol. iii, Extract from Letter to the Eev
Thomas Prince. Vols, v and vi, Talcott Papers.

Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, 1792-1904.
64 vols.

Volumes containing the Mather, Sewall, and Winthrop Papers
were especially useful.

Narragansett Club Publications. Providence, 1866. 6
vols.

The Correspondence of Roger Williams and John Cotton vols
i and ii. '

530 BIBLIOGRAPHY

New Haven Colony Historical Society Papers. 6 vols.
Rhode Island Historical Society Collections. 8 vols. 1827-

92. Proceedings, 4 vols., 1871-92, and Publications,

1892, onwards.

Manuscripts

Judge Church's MS. in New Haven Historical Society
Library.
A sketch prepared for the historian Hollister.

Manuscript Records of the Newport Yearly Meeting,
deposited in the Friends' School, Providence, R. I.

Manuscript Minutes of the Hartford North Association,
deposited in Yale library.

Stiles, Ezra. Itinerary and Memoirs, 1760-1794, depos-
ited in Yale College.

E. DENOMINATIONAL LITERATURE

1. Baptist

Asplund, John. The Annual Register of the Baptist De-
nomination in North America ... to Nov. 1, 1790 ; con-
taining an account of the Churches and their Constitu-
tions, Ministers, Members, Associations, their Plan and
Sentiments, Rule and Order, Proceedings and Corre-
spondence. Worcester, 1791-94.

Backus, Isaac. A History of New England with Particu-
lar Reference to the Denomination of Christians called
Baptists. Newton, Mass., 1871. 2 vols.

This edition hy D. Weston includes Isaac Backus' prefaces to
vol. i, finished 1777; vol. ii, 1784; and vol. iii, 1796.

This contemporary writer is regarded as an authority, as much
of his work was founded upon the court, town, and church records
and upon the minutes of ecclesiastical councils. He searched
diligently the records of Plymouth, Taunton, Boston, Essex, Provi-
dence, Newport, Hartford and New Haven. The book has a
chronological record of the Connecticut churches. It is very dis-
cursive.

Benedict, David. A General History of the Baptist De-

BIBLIOGRAPHY 531

nomination in America and other parts of the world-
Boston, 1813.

This contains a more complete list of the associations and
churches than that given by Backus. There is a valuable chapter,
" Baptist Communities who differ from the main body of the de-
nomination and who are also distinguished by some peculiarities
of their own."

Burrage, Henry S. A History of the Baptists in New
England. Philadelphia, 1894.

Particularly useful in tracing the progress of the denomination
in the different states, and in its contribution to the history of re-
ligious liberty.

Cathcart, William (Editor). The Baptist Encyclopedia :
A Dictionary of the Doctrines ... of the Baptist De-
nomination in all Lands. Philadelphia, 1883. 2 vols.

Curtis, Thomas F. The Progress of Baptist Principles in
the Last Hundred Years. Boston, 1856.

Denison, Frederic. Notes of the Baptists and their Princi-
ples in Norwich. Norwich, 1859.

This contains the famous Separatist Petition to the King in 1756.
Guild, Reuben A. History of Brown University, with

Illustrated Documents. Providence, 1867.
Hovey, Alvah. A Memoir of the Life and Times of the

Reverend Isaac Backus, A. M. Boston, 1858.
Newman, Albert H. A History of the Baptist Churches

in the United States. New York, 1894.

2. CONGREGATIONALIST

A Confession of Faith, Owned and Consented to by the
Elders and Messengers of the Churches in the Colony
of Connecticut in New England Assembled by Delegates
at Say brook, Sept. 9, 1708.

First Edition (first book printed in Connecticut), New London,
1710.

Second Edition, New London, 1760, with Heads of Agreement;
Edition of Hartford, 1831. «

A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God in

a This is the edition referred to in text.

532 BIBLIOGRAPHY

the Conversion of Many Hundred Souls in Northamp-
ton and the Neighboring Towns. ... In a letter to the
Revd. Doctor Benjamin Colman of Boston, written by
the Revd. Mr. Edwards, Minister of Northampton, on
Nov. 6, 1736. London, 1737.
Autobiography of Lyman Beecher, D. D. New York,
1864. 3 vols.

Especially valuable for the attitude of the Congregational
clergy during the first constitutional reform movement in Con-
necticut.

Bacon, Leonard. The Genesis of the New England

Churches. New York, 1874.
Thirteen Historical Discourses, on completion of Two

Hundred Years from the beginning of the First Church,

New Haven. New Haven, 1839.
Baldwin, Simeon E. Ecclesiastical Constitution of Yale

College. In New Haven Historical Society's Papers,

vol. iii.
Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of Connecticut:

prepared under the direction of the General Association,

to commemorate the completion of one hundred and

fifty years since its first annual Assembly. New Haven,

1861.

See under L. Bacon, the history of David Brainerd.
Barrowe, Henry. Answer to Mr. Gifford.
A Briefe Discoverie of the False Church. Date,

1590. London ed. 1707.
> A True Description of the Word of God, of the

Visible Church, 1589.
Briggs, Charles Augustus. American Presbyterianism :

Its Origin and Early History. New York, 1885.
Browne, Robert. An Answer to Master Cartwright His

Letter for Joyning with the English Churches. London,

1585.

A True and Short Declaration. Middelburg, 1584.

A Treatise of Reformation without tarrying. Mid-
delburg, 1582.
The Book which Sheweth the life and manners of

all true Christians, and how unlike they are unto Turkes

BIBLIOGRAPHY 533

and Papists and Heathen folk. Also the pointes and
partes of all Divinitie that is of the revealed will and
words of God, and declared by their severall Definitions
and Divisions in order as followeth. Middelburg,
1582.

Browne, Robert. " A New Years Guift : " an hitherto
lost treatise. (Letter of Dec. 31, 1588, to his uncle, M.
Flower.) Edited by Champlin Burrage. London, 1904.

Clap, Thomas. Religious Constitution of Colleges, with
Special Reference to Yale. New London, 1754.

Cotton, John. Civil Magistrates Power in Matters of Re-
ligion. London, 1655.

The Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven and Powers

thereof according to the Word of God. London, 1644.

Questions and Answers upon Church Government.

London, 1713.

Way of the Churches of Christ in New England.

London, 1645.

Way of the Congregational Churches Cleared. Lon-
don, 1648.

Cotton, John. In title, but a misprint for : —

Davenport, John. A Discourse about Civil Government
in a New Plantation whose design is Religion, written
many years since. Cambridge, 1643.

Dexter, Henry Martyn. The Congregationalism of the
last Three Hundred Years : as seen in its Literature
with special reference to certain Recondite, Neglected
or Disputed Passages. New York, 1880.

Lectures, with Bibliography of over 7000 titles and Index. An
historical review of Congregationalism from its earliest forms
to the last naif of the nineteenth century.

History of Congregationalists. Hartford, 1894.

Brief popular history.

Story of the Pilgrims. Boston and Chicago, 1894.

Dunning, Albert E. Congregationalists in America. New

York, 1894.
Dutton, S. M. S. History of the North Church, New

Haven, from its Formation in May 1742, during the

534 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Great Awakening, to the Completion of the Century,
in May 1842. New Haven, 1842.

Edwards, Jonathan. Works of, with Memoir by S. E.
D wight. New York, 1829. 10 vols.

Fisher, George P. Discourses . . . Church of Christ
in Yale College, November 22, 1857. New Haven,
1858.
Frequent citations from the diaries of the Cleveland brothers.

Fitch, Thomas. Explanation of the Saybrook Platform.
The Principles of the Consociated Churches in Con-
necticut ; Collected from the Plan of Union. By one
that heartily desires the Order, Peace and Purity of
these Churches. Hartford, 1765.

Hobart, Noah. An Attempt to illustrate and confirm the
Ecclesiastical Constitution of the Consociated Churches
in the Colony of Connecticut. New Haven, 1765.

Hooker, Richard. Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity.
London, 1648.

Hooker, Thomas. Survey of the Summe of Church Dis-
cipline. London, 1648.

Lechford, Thomas. Plaine Dealing. London, 1642.

Letter of Many Ministers in Old England requesting the
Judgment of their Brethren in New England concern-
ing Nine Positions . . . 1637. . . . Together with their
Answer thereunto returned Anno 1639 (by J. Daven-
port). London, 1643.

Mather, Cotton. Magnalia Christi Americana ; or, The
Ecclesiastical History of New England 1620-1698.
London, 1702. Hartford, 1855. 2 vols.

Ratio Disci plinse Fratrum Nov-Anglorum ; A Faith-
ful Account of the Discipline Professed and Practised
in the Churches of New England. Boston, 1726.

Mather, Richard. Church Government and Church Cove-
nant Discussed. London, 1643.

Prince, Thomas. The Christian History of the Revival
and Propagation of Religion. Boston, 1743.

Purchard, George. History of Congregationalism from
about 250 a. d. to 1616. New York and Boston, 1865-
1888. 5 vols.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 535

Walker, George Leon. History of the First Church of
Hartford. Hartford, 1884.

Some Aspects of the Religious Life of New England

with special reference to Congregationalists. New
York, Boston and Chicago, 1897-

Walker, Williston. The Creeds and Platforms of Con-
gregationalism. New York, 1893.

■ A History of* the Congregational Churches in the

United States. (American Church History Series).
New York, 1894.

White, Daniel Appleton. New England Congregation-
alism in its Origin and Purity: illustrated ' by the
foundation and early records of First Church in
Salem. Salem, 1861.

Wolcott, Roger. A Letter to Rev. Mr. Noah Hobart.
[The New English Congregational Churches ....
Consociated Churches.] Boston, 1761.

3. Episcopalian

Beardsley, E. Edwards, D. D. History of the Episcopal
Church in Connecticut. New York, 1865-68. 2 vols.
An account of the church in Connecticut with strong church
bias and inclination to excuse the Tory sentiments of the early
rectors. Second volume gives the Episcopal side of the " Tolera-
tion " conflict of 1817-18. Much interesting detail.

Church Review and Ecclesiastical Register. In American
Quarterly Church Review, vol. x, p. 116. New Haven
and New York, 1848-91.

Collections of the Protestant Episcopal Historical So-
ciety, The. New York, 1851-53. 2 vols.

These MSS. are found in Perry and Hawks's Documentary His-
tory, and include a valuable article on the Episcopate before the
Revolution, by F. L. Hawks, also " Thoughts upon the present
state of the Church of England in the Colonies," [1764] by an un-
known contemporary.

Cross, Arthur Lyon. The History of the Anglican Epis-
copate and the American Colonies. New York and
London, 1902.

Hawkins, E. Historical Notices of the Missions of the

536 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Church of England in the North American Colonies.
London, 1845.

Chiefly drawn from MS. documents of the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel.

Hawks (Frances Lister) and Perry (William Stevens).
Documentary History of the Protestant Episcopal
Church in the United States. Containing . . . docu-
ments concerning the Church in Connecticut. New
York, 1863-64. 2 vols.

See Perry, William Stevens.

McConnell, Samuel Davis. History of the American
Episcopal Church. New York, 1890.

A brief general history with a number of pages devoted to the
attempts to establish the Episcopate in America and to the polit-
ical hostility that it roused.

Perry, William Stevens (Bishop of Iowa). [See F. L.
Hawks.] Documentary History of the Protestant
Episcopal Church. New York, 1863-64. 2 vols.

Unbiased; arranged under topical heads; has illustrated
monographs by different authors; illustrations, including fac-
similes ; and also critical notes, frequently referring to original
sources. It contains many letters from the missions established by
the London Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts.

Shaw, W. A. A History of the Church of England.
2 vols.

4. Methodist
Asbury's (Francis) Journal. New York, 1821. 3 vols.

A brief diary of all Bishop Asbury's American journeys : Vols,
ii and iii concern New England, with comments on his surround-
ings, his preaching and the people.

Bangs, Nathan. History of the Methodist Episcopal

Church. New York, 1841-45. 4 vols.
Clark, Edgar F. The Methodist Episcopal Churches of

Norwich. Norwich, 1867.

Convenient secondary authority gives, pp. 6-21, a connected
account of the early days of Connecticut Methodism.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 537

Scudder, Moses Lewis. American Methodism. Hart-
ford, 1870.

General attitude of New England towards the introduction of
Methodism.

Stevens, Abel. Memorials of the Introduction of Metho-
dism into the Eastern States. Boston, 1848.
Biographical notices of the early preachers, sketches of the
earlier societies, and reminiscences of struggles and successes.
" Some account of every Methodist preacher who was regularly
appointed to New England during the first five years " of New
England Methodism, derived from original sources, letters, and
from books now out of print. The fullest account of Connecticut
Methodists. It contains frequent citations from Jesse Lee's diary.
Appendix A contains valuable statistics ; appendix B has a scur-
rilous pamphlet, " A Key to unlock Methodism, or Academical
Hubbub," etc., published in Norwich, 1800.

The Centenary of American Methodism: a Sketch

of its History, Theology, Practical System, and Suc-
cess. New York, 1866.

The History of the Religious Movement of the

Eighteenth Century, called Methodism. New York,
1858-61. 3 vols.

5. Quakers, or the Society of Friends

Besse, Joseph. A Collection of the Sufferings of the Peo-
ple called Quakers, for the Testimony of a Good Con-
science, etc., to the year 1689. London, 1753. 2 vols.
Vol. ii contains a full account of their persecutions, together

with copies of the proceedings against them and letters from the

sufferers.

Bowden, James. History of the Society of Friends in

America. New York and London, 1845. 2 vols.

A history of the sect throughout New England, containing
many short biographies. It is fair and frank in its record of New
England persecutions. The author adopts the unique plea that
the excesses of the converts were inspired by the Holy Spirit as
a reproof to their persecutors for the kind of persecution and
punishment that was meted out to innocent persons.
Evans, Charles. Friends in the Seventeenth Century.

Philadelphia, 1876.
Gough, John. History of the People called Quakers.

Dublin, 1789-90. 4 vols.

538 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hallowell, Richard Price. The Pioneer Quakers. Boston

and New York, 1887.
Manuscript Records of Early Newport Yearly (Friends')

Meetings — at Friends' School, Providence, R. I.

Minutes of meetings, reports of cases of oppression, of converts,
etc.

Sewel, William. The History of the Rise, Increase and
Progress of the Christian People called Quakers, Inter-
mixed with Several Remarkable Occurrences. Written
originally in Low Dutch by W. S. and by himself trans-
lated into English.

1st ed., Amsterdam, 1717 ; 2d ed., London, 1722 ; 3d ed., 1725.
2 vols. Philadelphia, 1728, etc. New York, 1844«

Wagstaff, William R. History of the Friends (compiled
from standard records and authentic sources). New
York and London, 1845.

A defense of the excesses in Quaker eccentricities as reli-
gious enthusiasm in persons who were driven by persecution to
the verge of madness. A similar view is expressed by R. P.
Hallowell and by Brooks Adams in his " Emancipation of Massa-
chusetts."

F. TRACTS (RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL OR
BOTH)

Of these, several titles that are found at full length either in
the text or footnotes are omitted here. Many more might have
been added, but it is thought best to omit them because of their
cumbrous titles, their scant interest to the average reader, and
their inaccessibility, being found only in the largest libraries
or among rare Americana. For similar reasons, works strictly
theological in character are also not listed. Any sizable library
possesses a copy of H. M. Dexter's " Congregationalism as seen
in the Literature of the last Three Hundred Years." Its biblio-
graphy of over 7000 titles gives all the religious, ecclesiastical or
politico-ecclesiastical tracts, and theological works touching upon
Congregationalism. Yale University library has a large amount
of the Americana collected by Mr. Dexter.

Trumbull's list of books published in Connecticut before 1800
gives the titles of books and pamphlets of strictly local import.

« This is the edition referred to in text.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 539

The Baptist Confession of Faith; first put forth in 1648;
afterwards enlarged, corrected and published by an
Assembly of Delegates (from the churches in Great
Britain) met in London, July 3, 1689; adopted by the
Association at Philadelphia, September 22, 1742, and
now received by churches of the same denomination in
most of the American States, to which is added a Sys-
tem of Church Discipline. Portland, 1794.

Bartlett, Moses. False and Seducing Teachers. New
London, 1757.

Beecher, Lyman. Sermon. A Reformation of Morals
practicable and indispensible. . . . New Haven, 1813.
Andover, 1814.

Bishop, Abraham. Connecticut Republicanism. An Ora-
tion on ttie extent and power of Political Delusion.
Delivered in New Haven, September, 1800.

Proofs of a Conspiracy against Christianity and the

Government of the United States; exhibited in several
views of the Church and State in New England. Hart-
ford, 1802.

The Oration in honor of the election of President

Jefferson and the peaceful acquisition of Louisiana,
1801.

Bishop, George. New England Judged, Not by Man's,
but the Spirit of the Lord : And the Summe sealed up

, of New England's Persecutions. Being a Brief Relation
of the Sufferings of the People called Quakers in these
Parts. London, 1661.

Bolles, John. Concerning the Christian Sabbath. 1757.

To Worship God in Spirit and in Truth is True

Liberty of Conscience. 1756.

A Relation of the Opposition which some Baptist

People met at Norwich. 1761.

Booth, Abraham. Essay on Kingdom of Christ. London,
1788. New London, 1801.°

American edition edited by John Sterry of the Norwich " True
Kepublican," together with notes containing his strictures on the
Connecticut and English Established Church.

« This is the edition referred to in text.

540 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bragge, Robert. Church Discipline. London, 1739. Re-
published, New London, 1768.°

"A Defence of simple Congregationalism and disestablish-
ment."

Browne, Joseph. Principles of Baptism. A Letter to
Infant Baptisers in the North Parish of New London.
New London, 1767.

Quoted by Rev. E. H. Gillett, Hist. Mag. 2d series, vol. iv, p. 28.

Browne, Robert. A Treatise of reformation without
tarrying for Magistrates and of the wickednesse of
those Preachers which will not reforme till the Magis-
trates commande or compell them. Middelburg, 1582.
Only three copies known. Reprint at Boston and
London.

Chauncy, Charles, Rev. Seasonable Thoughts. Boston,
1743.

Treats of tbe Great Awakening, of which the author was a
determined opponent.

Clap, Thomas. Brief History and Vindication of the
Doctrines received and established in the Churches of
New England. New Haven, 1755.

Daggett, David. Argument, before the General Assembly
of Connecticut, Oct. 1804, in the case of Certain Jus-
tices of the Peace. . . . New Haven, 1804.

Count the Cost. An Address to the People of

Connecticut. . , . By Jonathan Steadfast. Hartford,
1804.

Facts are Stubborn Things, or Nine Plain Questions

to the People of Connecticut. By Simon Holdfast.
Hartford, 1803.

Steady Habits Vindicated. Hartford, 1805.

Sun-Beams may be extracted from Cucumbers, but

the process is tedious. An Oration, pronounced 4 July,
1799 New Haven, 1799.

Darling, Thomas. Some Remarks on President Clap's
"History and Vindication." New Haven, 1757.

a This is the edition referred to in text.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 541

Foster, Isaac. Defence of Religious Liberty. Worcester,
1779.

Frotbingham, Ebenezer. A Key to unlock the Door, That
leads in, to take a Fair View of the Religious Constitu-
tion, Established by Law, in the Colony of Connecticut
. . . with a short Observation upon the Explanation of
Saybrook Plan, etc. and Mr. Hobart's attempt etc. Re-
viewing R. Ross, Plain Address. Boston, 1767.

Hobart, Noah. An Attempt to Illustrate and Confirm the
Ecclesiastical Covenant of the Connecticut Churches,
— occasioned by a late Explanation of the Saybrook
Platform. New Haven, 1765.

Holly, Israel. A Plea in Zion's Behalf : The Censured
Memorial made Public ... to which is added a few
Brief Remarks upon ... an Act for Exempting . . .
Separatists from Taxes, etc. 1765.

Quoted by Eev. E. H. Gillett, Hist. Mag., 2d series, vol. iv.

Huntington, R. (Editor). Review of the Ecclesiastical
Establishments of Europe (by William Graham).
1808.

Special reference to the bearing of the book on the Connecticut
Establishment, and particularly upon its Parish System.

Judd, William. Address to the People of the State of
Connecticut, on the removal of himself and four other
Justices from Office. . . . New Haven, 1804.

Leland, John. A Blow at the Root. Being a fashionable
Fast-Day Sermon. New London, 1801.

The Connecticut Dissenters' Strong Box : No. I.

Containing, The High-flying Churchman stript of his
legal Robe appears a Yaho. New London, 1802.

Van Tromp lowering his Peak with a Broadside:

Containing a plea for the Baptists of Connecticut. Dan-
bury, 1803.

The Rights of Conscience inalienable ; . . . Or,

The high-flying Churchman, stript of his legal Robe,
appears a Yaho.

See The Connecticut Dissenters' Strong Box.

542 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Martin-Mar-Prelate Tracts. See H. M. Dexter's Con-
gregationalism as seen in Literature, Lecture iii, pp.
131-205.

Norton, John. The Heart of New England rent at the
Blasphemies of the Present Generation. Or a brief
Tractate concerning the Doctrine of the Quakers etc.
Cambridge, New England, 1659.

Paine, Solomon. A Short View of the Difference between
the Church of Christ, and the established Churches in
the Colony of Connecticut in their Foundation and
Practice with their Ends: being a Word of Warning to
several Ranks of Profession ; and likewise Comfort to
the Ministers and Members of the Church of Christ.
1752.

Richards, George H. The Politics of Connecticut ; by a
Federal Republican. New London, 1817.

Rogers, John. A Midnight Cry from the Temple of God
to the Ten Virgins. See F. M. Caulkins' History of
New London, pp. 202-221.

John Rogers, A Servant of Jesus Christ . . . giving

a Description of True Shepherds of Christ's Flocks and
also of the Anti-Christian Ministry. 4th ed. Norwich,
1776.

New London Prison.

See F. H. Gillett, Hist. Mag., 2d series, vol. iv.

Ross, Robert. Plain Address to the Quakers, Moravians,
Separatists, Separate Baptists, Rogerines, and other
Enthusiasts on Immediate Impulses and Revelations,
etc. New Haven, 1752.

Stiles, Ezra. A Discourse on Christian Union. (Appen-
dix containing a list of New England Churches, a. d.
1760.) Boston, 1761.

Stoddard, Solomon. The Doctrine of Instituted Churches
Explained and Proved from the Word of God. 1700.

Webster, Noah. A Rod for the Fool's Back. New
Haven, 1800.
Being a reply to Abraham Bishop.

Williams, Nathan. An Inquiry Concerning the Design

BIBLIOGRAPHY 543

and Importance of Christian Baptism and Discipline.
Hartford, 1792.
Wolcott, Roger. The New-English Congregational
Churches are and always have been Consociated
Churches, and their Liberties greater and better
founded, in their Platform of Church Discipline agreed
to at Cambridge, 1648, than what is contained at Say-
brook, 1705, etc. Boston, 1761.

INDEX

Abbot, George, Archbishop, 27, 42.
Act for the Support of Literature

and Religion, 4G7-471.
Act to secure equal rights, powers,

and privileges, 479.
Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity,

22.
Agreement, Heads of. See Heads of

Agreement.
Albany Convention of 1862, 367.
American Board of Foreign Mis-
sions, first auxiliary of, 462.
American Episcopate, 175-178; 192-

200 ; 311-318.
American Philosophical Society,322.
Anabaptists, 72.
Anti-Federal Party, 371, 393, 394,

397, 408 ; birth of, 355-357.
Antinomian schism, 71.
Arianism, 301, 304, 369, 409.
Arminianism, 302, 303, 409.
Asbury, Francis, Bishop, 358, 359.
Ashurst, Sir Henry, 182-185.
Associations, in Massachusetts, 133;

in Connecticut, 142; Hartford,

North, 150 ; of Windham, 264 ; of

Middletown, 269.
Awakening, Great. See Great

Awakening.

Backus, Rev. Isaac, 278, 329, 331,
333.

Bancroft, Richard, Archbishop, 27.

Baptists, 157-159, 239, 263, 270, 276,
291, 292, 299, 319, 320, 327-330,
336, 358, 360, 365, 371, 380, 383,
386, 387, 405, 407, 410, 411, 415,
425, 429, 467, 468, 469, 471, 4S7 ;
exemption from rates, 217; perse-
cution of, 278 ; petition of, 426-
428.

Barlow, Joel, 323.

Barrowe, Henry, a London lawyer,
10 ; connection with Henry Green-
wood, 11 ; his theories of church
polity compared with Browne's,
14-20; spread of Barrowism, 20,
48, 98, 120, 365.

Barrowism. See Barrowe, Henry.

Bartlett, Rev. Moses, 287.

Beach, Rev. John, 315.

Beecher, Rev. Lyman, 438-440, 446,
461, 462.

Bellamy, Rev. Joseph, 229, 241, 303,
304, 305, 306, 307, 361, 409, 410.

Bishop, Abraham, 418-426, 431, 435;
" Extent and Power of Political
Delusions," 420; "Proofs of a
Conspiracy," 423,425; Connecti-
cut Republicanism, 424, 425 ;
" Oration in Honor . . . of Jeffer-
son," 430, 431.

Bishop, Samuel, 418, 419, 422, 423.

Bishop's Fund, 405, 417, 443, 471.

Bishops in America. See Episcopate.

Boardman, Edward, 463.

Bolles, Rev. Augustus, 470.

Bolles, John, 162, 290.

Boroughs, rotten, 397.

Boston, church of, 55, 68.

Bradford, Gov. William, 51.

Bragge, Robert, " Church Disci-
pline," 297.

Brainerd, Rev. David, 246, 256, 264.

Branford, church of, 264.

Bray, Rev. Thomas, his " Memorial,"
176.

Brewster, Elder William, 48.

Briant, Rev. Lemuel, 306.

Bright, Rev. Francis, 52.

Brown, Rev. Daniel, 195, 196.

Brown, Rev. Joseph, " Letter to the
Infant Baptizers," 297, 298.

Browne, Robert, pivotal dogmas, 3;
precursors of, 3-8; life, 8-10;
church at Norwich, 8; its migra-
tion to Zealand, 9 ; preaching at
Cambridge, 12; his theories of
church polity compared with those
of Barrowe, 13-20 ; Brownism, 119,
365.

Brownism. See Browne, Robert.

"Brownists," derisively applied to
Plymouth settlers, 48.

Bulkley, John, 275.

Burr, Aaron, 409, 417, 418.

Calvin, 5.

Calvinism, in England, 6, 7, 35 ; in
the Great Awakening, 237, 238.

54G

INDEX

Calvinistic theory of eldership in
Barrowisin, 17.

Cambridge Platform, 76-121, 154,
224, 270, 333, 365 ; application of,
99 et seq. ; departure from, 126.

Cambridge Synod, 81, 87, 8(J-«J7.

Canterbury church, 248, 253-255,
258-260, 277, 365.

Cartwright, Thomas, 6 ; his eccle-
siastical polity, 7, 33 ; indifferent
toBarrowism, 18; extends his own
reforms in Warwickshire and
Northamptonshire, 18, 23, 24.

Certificate Laws, 367, 479; discus-
sion of, 368-392.

Chandler, Rev. Thomas Bradbury,
320.

Charles I, succeeds James I, 44 ; his
misrule, 45 ; appoints Laud to the
bishopric of London, 51.

Charter of 1662, 394, 395.

Chaimcy, Rev. Charles, 107, 237,
317, 320.

Cheshire Academy, charter for, 417,
437.

Church, nature of a Congrega-
tional church denned by Browne
and Barrowe, 13-20 ; its organiza-
tion, and officers, 13-20 ; its mem-
bership, 13-16 ; officers of, in
New England, 56 ; relation of, to
civil government, 60-70; summary
of church organization, 91-97 ;
dual membership in, 105 ; the
Great Schism, 233-273.

Churchmen in Connecticut. See
Episcopalians.

Clap, Pres. Thomas, 280, 281, 282,
289.

Clark, Rev. Peter, 304.

Cleaveland, John and Ebenezer, 257,
258.

Clergy, colonial, 308-310, 439; in
the war of 1812, 462, 463.

Coggeshall, Rev. James, 259.

College Church, 280, 281.

Collins, Rev. Nathaniel, 261.

Colman, Rev. Benjamin, 229.

Confederacy of United Colonies, 87.

Confession, Westminster. See West-
minster Confession.

Congregational, usage of the word,
2, 150, 336 ; church and ecclesiasti-
cal society, 119.

Congregationalism of colonists of
Connecticut, New Haven, Mas-
sachusetts and Plymouth, 1 ; early,
2, 3 ; Brownism and Barrowism,
13-20 ; Dr. Dexter's definition of,
2, :'. ; religious movements preced-
ing Brownism, 4-8; sketch of
Browne's life and work, 8-10; of

Greenwood and Barrowe, 10-13 ;
Brownism in modern, 20 ; spread
of Barrowism, 20-22 ; London
church exiled to Holland, 21 ; pol-
icy of Elizabeth toward non-con-
formists, 22, 25, 27 ; of James I,
28 ; exile of the Gainsborough
Church, 29; emigration of the
Scrooby church to America, 39 ;
fundamental principle of, 54 ; be-
ginning of, in New England, 54;
break with English Episcopacy,
54 ; theory of, 64 ; deflection from,
64 ; synods of, 72 ; review of Co-
lonial, 97 ; church and society in,
119.

Congregationalist and Separatist,
239.

Connecticut, churches in, 62 ; con-
trol of churches by General Court,
74 ; Half- Way Covenant, 102, 107,
108,109; Establishment, 116, 147,
151, 155, 156, 160, 167, 236 et seq. ;
absorption of New Haven Colony,
109 ; politics, 109 ; toleration, first
extended, 116, 117 ; loss of inter-
est in religious questions, 123-125 ;
approves Reforming Synod, 127;
deterioration of the churches, 128-
130, 132 ; narrowing of franchise,
130-132; "Proposals of 1705,"
133-135 ; Governor Saltonstall and
the churches, 135, 136 ; Saybrook
Synod, 136, 137 ; terms of the Say-
brook Platform, 138-147 ; adop-
tion of Saybrook Platform, 147 ;
Toleration Act for Sober Dissent-
ers, 147, 157 ; church polity in
18th century, 150-152; proviso of
Saybrook Platform, 154-156, 233 ;
early Quakers in, 164-171 ; loss of
ro3'al favor after 1688, 173 ; pros-
perity of the colony, 173; paper
currency in, 173, 225 ; population
of, 173 ; complaints against, 181-
185, 209, 214 (see Mohegan In-
dians, also Hallam Case) ; danger
to charter, 186; fear of Episco-
pacy, 195 ; exemption of Episco-
palians from ecclesiastical taxes,
200; exemption of Baptists, 217;
exemption of Quakers, 216 ; laws
against the Bogerines, 2(>4, 205;
boundary disputes, 206 ; royal dis-
favor, 207 el seq. ; Intestate Act,
207-214, 314 ; financial depression
in, 225 ; Act of 1717, 225 ; Great
Awakening, 222-232. 270, 271 ; the
great schism, 233 et seq. ; eccle-
siastical laws of 1742-43, 242-245,
262, 263, 265, 269 ; Canterbury
Church, 248, 253-255, 258-260;

INDEX

547

Enfield Church, 2G1, 262; New
Haven Church, 218-253; law of
1746, 267-268 ; revision of laws of
1750, 273, 275, 338 ; English influ-
ence on ecclesiastical legislation,
275-278; newspapers, 300, 35l>;
denial of the Trinity, a felony,
305 ; remonstrance against British
taxation, 324, 325, 327 ; ecclesias-
tical laws of 1770, 327, 328 ; Act
exempting Separates, 333, 334 ;
Laws and Acts of the State of
Connecticut, 338, 353-354 ; town
development, 342-344 ; Western
Reserve of, 343 ; condition after
Revolution, 342-367 ; commerce,
344-350; schools, 346-349; first
law school, 348, 349; intelligence
of people, 350 ; newspaper circula-
tion, 351, 352 ; state politics, 1783-
1787, 355 et seq. ; General Asso-
ciation of, 360; Missions of, 361,
386, 387 ; Certificate Laws and
Western Land Bills, 368-392 ; form
of dissenter's certificate, 372-374,
378 ; annual state expenses, 384 ;
School Fund of, 390, 392 ; Land
Company, 391 ; rotten boroughs,
397 ; bill for decreasing town re-
presentation, 397-399 ; in the war
of 1812, 446-461; direct taxes in
1813, 452; manufactures, 459,
460, 473 ; Act for the Support of
Literature and Religion, 467-471 ;
economic conditions, 473, 475 ;
taxes, 473, 474; summary of the
Constitution of, 476-478 ; suffrage,
478 ; Act to secure equal rights,
powers, and privileges, 479 ; Con-
stitutional Convention of 1818,
481-492 ; Constitutional Conven-
tion of 1902, see note 218, p. 492.
, Connecticut Establishment, 74, 114,
136, 137, 138-153, 155, 157, 160,
188, 202, 217, 220, 233, 267, 283,
299, 364, 370, 377, 392.

Comiecticut Missionary Society, 414.

Consociation, 143, 146 ; of New
Haven, 264, 269, 278 ; of Fairfield
(East), 264; of Windham, 264,
268, 337.

Consociation, General, meets at
Guilford, 240 ; measures of,
against the Separatists, 240, 241,
249.

Constitution and Reform Ticket,
480.

Constitutional Reform, 393, 405, 428,
429, 472-496, note 218.

Constitution of 1818, vote upon, 492 ;
reception of, 492, 493 ; changes
by, 493-496.

Constitutional convention, 481-492 ;
preliminaries to, 481-484; strength
of parties in, 484 ; prominent
members, 485, 486 ; method of
procedure, 486; Bill of Rights,
487, 488 ; Article of Religion, 4S9-
492.

Constitutional questions, 397-399,
403-405.

Convention at Albany. See Plan of
Union.

Cotton, Rev. John, 46, 106 ; on de-
mocracy, 61 ; on church govern-
ment, 65, 66.

Council, Governor's, 395 ; Upper
House, 395, 396 ; grievances
against, 402.

Court of Election, 400.

Covenant, church, 15, 53, 54.

Cutler,' Rev. Timothy, 195-197.

Daggett, David (Connecticutensis),
424, 427, 435, 436; "Facts are
Stubborn Things," 426 ; " Count
the Cost," 432.

Dana, Rev. James, 278.

Darling, Thomas, 289, 290.

Davenport, Mr. James, of Stamford,
398.

Davenport, Rev. James, 230, 242,
263.

Davenport, Rev. John, on civil gov-
ernment, 65 ; leader of the New
Haven colony, 77 ; quoted, 25 ;
letter, 103.

Deacon. See under Church.

Deaconess, or widow. See under
Church.

Democratic Republican party, 394,
405, 407-409, 415, 416, 426, 427,
428, 432, 433, 436, 437, 444 ; or-
ganization of, 417; General Com-
mittee of, 431. See also Republi-
can Party.

Dexter, Henry Martyn, his defini-
tion of Congregationalism, 2.

Disestablishment, 405, 445-497. See
also Leland, Rev. John.

Dissenters, Committee of English,
276 et seq., 279, 319; certificate
of, 372-374, 378, 392. See also
Baptists, Episcopalians, Metho-
dists, Quakers, Rogerines, Separa-
tists.

Domestic Missionary Society for
building up of waste places, 462.

Dorchester, church of, 55, 68.

Drake, Deacon Nathaniel, Jr., 278.

Dual membership, 105, 118.

Dwight, Theodore, 417, 418, 424,
435, 438, 453.

548

INDEX

Dwight, Pres. Timothy, 307, 308,
323, 411-413, 417, 418, 435, 437,
401, 462.

Ecclesiastical Commission, 26, 27.

Ecclesiastical Establishments of Eu-
rope, review of, 429.

Edwardeanism, 365.

Edwards, Rev. Jonathan, 241, 270,
358 ; on church membership,
quoted, 223; sermons, 226, 227;
" Narrative of the surprising Work
of God," 228; as an itinerant,
229; teachings of, 236, 302, 306;
favors the Great Awakening, 245,
247 ; resigns his pastorate, 247 ;
his writings, 302-304.

Edwards, Rev. Jonathan, Jr., 307,
411, 417.

Edwards, Pierpont, 417, 427, 431,
434, 474.

Elders. See under Church.

Elders, Ruling. See under Church.

Election, of Assistants, Councilors,
Magistrates, or Senators, 399-102;
national, 1797, 415; state, 1800,
416, 418, 423 ; state, 1804-06, 394,
430, 436: of 1814, 463; of 1816, 463-
467; of 1817, 471 ; of 1818, 480.

Elizabeth, Queen, policy of, 22, 23,
25, 26.

Elliott, Rev. Jared, 322.

Ellis, Rev. Jared, 195.

Embargo of 1807, 446, 447; of 1812,
448.

Emmons, Rev. Nathaniel, 307, 308,
365, 366.

Endicott, Gov. John, 47, 48, 62.

Enfield, church of. See Separate
church of Enfield.

England, Puritan, 35-38.

English Presbytery, first, 19.

English Reformation, 4, 5-7, 22-
28,35.

Episcopacy, conversion of Pres. Cut-
ler, 195-197; fear of, in Con-
necticut, 195 ; low ebb of, 358.

Episcopal Church, American, found-
ing of, 354.

Episcopalians, 157, 239, 271, 281,
299, 327, 405, 406, 410, 417, 436,
437, 441, 445, 466, 467, 468, 471,
487 ; in Stratford, 112 ; complaints
of, against Connecticut, 171, 172;
missionary priests, 174; clergy in
New Eugland to 1680, 174 ; per-
secution of, 191, 192; of Fairfield,
200 ; authority of the Bishop of
London, 200 ; exemption from
ecclesiastical taxes, 200; illegal
treatment of, 201-203 ; contro-
versy over ordination, 315; Amer-

ican Episcopate, 175-178, 192-200,

311-318; convention of, 318;

Fasts and Thanksgivings, 378: in

politics, 405, 417, 437,441^44.
Episcopate, American, 310-317, 320,

321 ; early attempts to found,

176, 177, 192, 193.
Era of Good Feeling, 461.
Establishment, Congregational, in

Connecticut. See Connecticut

Establishment.
" Extent and Power of Political

Delusions (The)," 420.

Fast Day, annual, on Good Friday,

406.
Fasts and thanksgivings, 378, 406.
Federal party, 355, 357, 372, 405,

410, 411, 416, 427, 428, 433, 436,

437, 444, 445, 446, 449, 450, 453,

454, 457, 461, 463, 464, 470, 475,

478, 479, 489.
Federalists, New England, opposi'

tion to War of 1812, 452.
Fine, for absence from worship,

468.
Finley, Rev. Samuel, 241, 262.
" Fire Lands," 381.
Fitch, Gov. Thomas, 275, 336.
Foster, Rev. Dan, 337.
Foster, Rev. Isaac, 337.
Franchise, in Connecticut, 61, 62,

131, 132,431,478,493.
French Revolution, 408, 409, 410.
Freneau, Philip, 323.
Friends, Society of. See Quakers.
Frothingham, Rev. Ebenezer, 283 ;

citations from, 283-297.
Fuller, Dr. Samuel, visit of, .to

Salem, 47, 48-50.
Fundamental Orders (The), 394,

395, 399, 404.

Garden, Alexander, Episcopal Com-
missary in Carolina, 226.

General Association of Connecticut,
360, 386, 387, 414.

General Court (The), 394, 396, 400.

Gibson, Edmund, Bishop, 198, 199,
200, 313, 314.

Gihnan, Bishop, letter to Dr. Col-
man, 314.

Goddard, Calvin, 454, 406.

Good Friday as annual Fast Day,
406.

Goodrich, Chauncey, 453.

Goodrich, Elizur, displacement of,
A'l'l.

Goodwin, Elder William, 100, 101,
110.

Granger, Gideon, 427.

Great Awakening, 220-232, 233, 234,

INDEX

549

237, 239, 2-40, 241, 253, 413; effect

of, 270, 272.
Greenwood, Henry, connection with

Henry Barrowe, 10-12; teacher

in the London church, 21.
Griswold, Gov. Roger, 440, 450-

452.

Half-Way Covenant, 78, 81, 154,
236, 247, 254, 303, 305, 362 ; terms
of, 102 ; contradictory to Congre-
gationalism, 105, 106; dual mem-
bership of, 106 ; reception of, 107,
108,109,112,113,114; admissions
mider, 128, 129 ; laxity of, 223,
224 ; abrogated, 271.

Hallam Case, 184, 185.

Hart, Rev. William, 195.

Hartford Church, schism in, 99-102,
107, 114 ; Pitkin's appeal, 114 ;
divides, 118.

Hartford Convention, 445, 453-458.

Hartford, North Association, on
polity of Connecticut churches,
150 ; on the Half- Way Covenant,
223.

Hartford, Second Church of, 118.

" Hartford Wits," 323.

Heads of Agreement, 124, 126, 137;
discussion of, 138-141.

Heathcote, Colonel Caleb, 178, 179,
186.

Higginson, Rev. Francis, 52, 53.

Hillhouse, James, 454.

Hobart, Rev. Noah, 315.

Holly, Israel, 291, 292, 320, 334, 335.

Home Missionary Society, 462.

Hooker, Rev. Asahel, 438.

Hooker, Richard, ecclesiastical pol-
ity of, 24, 25.

Hooker, Rev. Thomas, 62, 77, 88,
99.

Hooper, John, Bishop, refusal of
Romish vestments, 5.

Hopkins, Rev. Samuel, 306-308, 363.

Hough, Atherton, 46.

Hutchinson, Mrs. Anne, 71.

Independent, usage of the word, 2.
Ingersoll, Jared, 325, 326.
Ingersoll, Jonathan, 401, 464, 465,
466, 472.

James I, attitude of, towards Non-
conformists, 28, 36, 37, 39; con-
test with Puritan party, 41-44.

Jefferson, Thomas, 394, 407, 415, 416,
419, 422, 430, 447 ; party of, 394,
407.

Johnson, Rev. Francis, pastor of
London-Amsterdam church, 21,
29, 33.

Johnson, Rev. Samuel, 195, 315, 318,

320.
Judd, Major William, 432, 433-

435.

Keith, George, missionary priest,
174, 177.

Laud, William, Archbishop, 27, 49,
50, 51, 82, 175.

Law, Gov. Jonathan, policy toward
schismatics, 242.

Law courts, character of, 403.

Leland, Rev. John, 374-376, 393,
401, 423, 429; "Rights of Con-
science," 374-376 ; speech at
Hartford, 387-389 ; " Van Tromp
lowering his Peak," etc., 429.

Leverett, Thomas, 46.

Lewis, Rev. John, 361, 362.

Liberal Theology, 302, 306.

Licensure, ministerial, 142, 269.

Litchfield County Foreign Mission
Society, 462.

Liturgy, reform of English, 23.

Liveen Case, see Hallam Case.

London-Amsterdam church, 20, 21,
28, 29-31 ; number of communi-
cants, 21.

Lung, Peter, case of, 475-477.

Luther, 5.

Madison, Pres. James, 447.

Magistrates, New England view of,
60.

Manufactures in Connecticut, 459,
460, 473.

Massachusetts, colonists of, 1, 58;
freemen of, 65 ; control of
churches, 66-70 ; controversy with
Roger Williams, 69, 70; Antino-
mian controversy, 71 ; Synod of
1637, 71 ; Body of Liberties, 72 ;
platform of church discipline, 69,
70 ; Presbyterian cabal, 87 ; Cam-
bridge Synod, 87, 90 ; Ministerial
Convention of 1657, 102; Half-
Way Covenant, 102, 108 ; Synod
of 1662, 108 ; " Proposals of 1705,"
133-135, 332 ; in Hartford Con-
vention, 453.

Mather, Rev. Cotton, 106, 130.

Mather, Rev. Richard, 1, 106.

Mayhew, Rev. Jonathan, 305, 306,
307, 310, 315, 316, 321.

Methodism, 358.

Methodists, 358, 369, 405, 407, 410,
411, 415, 467, 468, 469, 470, 471,
487, 495.

Milford, First Separate church of,
277.

Millenary Petition, 28, 37.

550

INDEX

Ministerial Convention of 1657, 106 ;

questions left unanswered, 115.
Missions, 386, 387, 414.
Mohegan Indians, 183.
Moravian missionaries, 265-267.
Morse, Rev. Asahel, 487.
Muirson, Rector George, 178, 179.

Navigation laws, 324.

Neuters, definition of, 377.

New Divinity, 302, 307.

New England churches, character
of, 57.

New England Confederacy. See
Confederacy of United Colonies.

-New England Way" (The), 83,
85.

New Haven Church, New Light
schism, 248-253.

New Haven Colony, churches in,
73 ; opposition to ecclesiastical
changes, 103; to the Half- Way
Covenant, 107 ; absorption by
Connecticut, 109 ; Quakers in,
165.

New Haven Convention [Rep.],
433.

New Lights, 238, 239, 264, 270, 271,
274, 280, 281, 282, 336, 425; in
New Haven church, 248-253 ; in
the Canterbury church, 253-255,
258-260; in the Enfield church,
262.

Newspapers, 300, 301, 326, 351, 352.

Norton, Rev. John, 106.

Norwich, church of, difficulty in
collecting the minister's rate,
148-150.

Noyes, Rev. Joseph, 248, 249, 252,
281.

Old Calvinists, 238, 239.

Old Lights, 238, 239, 264, 269, 270,

274, 281.
Owen, Rev. John, 263.

Paine, Elisha, 287.

Paine, Rev. Solomon, 254, 257, 287,
288, 289 ; memorial of, 268.

Parker, Matthew, Archbishop, 27.

Parsons, Rev. Jonathan, 241.

Particular Court, 395.

Partridge, Rev. Ralph, 106.

" Pelham," 455.

Pennsylvania, University of, found-
ed, 322.

Perkins, William, 6.

Peters, Rev. Hugh, 82.

Peters, John T., 427.

Phenix, or Windham Herald, 428.

Phi Beta Kappa, Bishop's oration
before, 420, 421.

Phoenix Bank of Hartford, incorpo-
ration of, 441-444, 465.

Pigott, Rev. George, 195.

Pitkin, Hon. William, appeal for
church privileges, 110-114.

Plan of Union, 1801, 366.

Plan of Union, Franklin's, 322, 323.

Plymouth, settlement of, 29, 33, 34 ;
friendship with Salem, 47, 48;
eldership in, 56 ; church of, 97.

Plymouth Colony, friendship of,
with Salem, 47-53.

"Points of Difference," 31, 32, 119.

Pomeroy, Rev. Benjamin, 241, 263,
269.

Prayer, Monthly Concert of, 271.

Presbyterian and Congregationalist,
118, 341, 303 ; terms interchange-
able, 150.

Presbyterian cabal in Plymouth, 87.

Presbyterian, Congregational, or
Consociated Church, 273, 357.

Presbyterian General Assembly,
embryo of, 73 ; work of, 319, 386.

Presbyterian literature in Massa-
chusetts, 72.

Presbyterianism, of Cartwright, 23,
24 ; of the Millenary Petition, 28;
in England and the Colonies, 82 ;
in Cambridge Platform, 98.

Presbyterians, under Elizabeth, 27;
among Puritans, 49 ; under Wil-
liam and Mary, 124.

Proposals of 1705, 133, 134, 332.

Prudden, Rev. Peter, of Milford,
107.

Punrterson, Rector Ebenezer, 281.

Puritanism, origin of term, 5.

Puritans, reason for leaving Eng-
land, 1 ; origin of term, 5; policy
of Elizabeth toward, 22-26; of
James I, 28, 35, 36, 39, 41-44;
idea of reform, 38 ; approachment
to Separatists, 34, 35, 37-39 ; un-
der Charles I, 44, 45 ; scheme of
emigration, 45, 46, 52 ; settlement
at Salem, 47, 48 ; Presbyterianism
among, 49 ; Laud's persecution of,
51, 52.

Quakers, 157, 160, 186, 187, 239,299,
319, 425, 467, 469 ; early converts
in Connecticut, 164-167 ; organi-
zation of the society of, 167; atti-
tude of Connecticut towards, 169 ;
persecution of, 169 ; law against
" Heretics, Infidels and Quakers "
annulled, 170, 185 ; complaints of,
IS."). 215; test case in Massachu-
setts, 215, 216; exemption from
taxes in Connecticut, 216, 217,
371.

INDEX

551

Reforming Synod of 1679-80, 122,
123, 125, 126, 136, 138.

Religion, crimes against, 420.

Republican party, 445, 446, 449, 450,
463, 464, 478, 492 ; organization
of, 417 ; General Committee of,
431. See also Democratic-Repub-
lican party.

Revivals in New England, 221, 222,
226 ; character of, 230 ; of 1800-
1825, 413-415. See also Great
Awakening.

Rhode Island, 75, 453.

Robbins, Rev. Philemon, 263, 269.

Robinson, Rev. John, pastor of the
Leyden Church, 33, 34, 56.

Rogerines, 157, 160-164, 187, 204-
206, 371.

Rogers, James, 161.

Rogers, John, 161, 163, 164, 204.

Rogers, Joseph, 161.

Ross, Robert, his " Plain Address,"
141.

Rotten Boroughs, 397.

Salem, settlement of, 47-52 ; friend-
ship with Plymouth, 47-53 ; for-
mation of church at, 52-54 ; Salem
covenant, 54 ; controversy with
Williams, 69, 70.

Saltonstall, Gov. Gurdon, elected
governor, 135 ; attitude toward
dissenters, 159, 164, 186, 204, 207 ;
courtesy to Episcopalians, 174 ;
death of, 198.

Saudemanians, 340.

Savoy Declaration or Confession,
125, 126, 137.

Saybrook Articles, 137 ; discussion
of, 141-146; attitude of the
churches towards, 144.

Saybrook Platform, 138-146; 264,
269, 270, 271, 273, 274, 299, 335-
339, 341, 365; proviso in, 153-
156.233; effect of , 222.

Saybrook Synod, 136, 137.

Saybrook System, 99, 289.

Seabury, Samuel, Bishop, 197, 354,
406.

Seeker, Bishop. See Episcopate.

Senate. See Council.

Separate Church of Enfield, 261,
262.

Separate churches, 234-236. See
New Haven Church, Milford
Church, Enfield Church, Canter-
bury Church.

Separatism. See Separatists.

Separatist and Congregationalist,
239.

Separatists, origin of the term, 5;
in England, 6, 20, 21, 25, 27, 29,

30, 34, 37; in exile in Holland,
31; their writings, 31-31; under
James, 36, 37; Scrooby-Leyden
church, 39 ; influence upon New
England churches, 39, 40 ; in Sa-
lem, 64 ; of the 18th century in
Connecticut, 234 el seq., 273, 274,
276, 277, 278, 279, 282, 283, 284,
291, 292, 299, 327, 328, 333, 334,
335, 336, 365 ; of Enfield, 261, 262 ;
expelled from the Assembly, 269;
of Saybrook, 277 ; petition to the
King, 279 ; exemption of, 333-335;
communion with, 336.

Services or order of worship, 56, 57.

"Seven Articles, (The,)" 31, 32,
33.

Sewall, Rev. Joseph, 229.

Shakers, 340.

Shepard, Rev. Thomas, 106.

" Shepherd's Tent, (The,) " 255,
256.

Sherlock, Bishop. See Episcopate.

Sherman, Roger Minot, 454.

Skelton, Rev. Samuel, of Salem, 52,
53.

Smalley, Rev. John, 307.

Smith, Rev. Henry, of Wethersfield,
106.

Smith, Gov. John Cotton, 438, 451,
463, 466, 472.

Smith, Nathaniel, 454.

Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in Foreign Parts, 193, 194,
313 ; formation of, 176, 178, 186;
reputation of priests, 198.

Society for the Suppression of Vice,
437.

Stamp Act, 317, 324.

Standing Order, 357, 372, 405, 411,
421, 432, 436, 446, 471.

Stand-up Law, 400, 408, 437, 478.

Stiles, Pres. Ezra, 345, 347, 348,
363, 412.

Stoddard, Rev. Solomon, 129, 144,
221, 224 226.

Stoddarde'anism, 129, 130, 154, 224,
303, 362.

Stone, Rev. Samuel, 77, 100, 101,
106, 108.

Stratford, Episcopal church in, 194.

Strawbridge, Robert, 358.

Strong, Gov. Caleb, 450, 451.

Street, Rev. Nicholas, 269.

Strong, John, of Norwich, 428.

Stuart, House of, absolutism of the,
41.

Sugar Act, 317, 324.

Swift, Judge Zephaniah, 370, 376,
377, 428, 454, 475, 476.

Synod, Savoy. See Savoy Declara-
tion.

552

INDEX

Synod, Cambridge. See Cambridge
Synod.

Synod of 1G57 (60-called). See Min-
isterial Convention of 1657.

Synod of 1662, 108.

Synod of 1G80. See Reforming
Synod.

Synod, Saybrook. See Saybrook
Synod.

Talbot, John, missionary priest,
174, 175, 177, 185, 192.

Talcott, Governor Joseph, policy of,
198 ; replies to Bishop Gibson,
198-200, 205, 206, 207 ; attitude
toward the Baptists, 217 ; death
of, 242.

Taxation, ecclesiastical, in Connect-
icut, Massachusetts, New Haven,
and Plymouth, 58-60, 94 ; in Con-
necticut, 153, 154, 201, 217, 338.

Taxes, 452. See also Franchise.

Taylor, Rev. John, 412.

Teacher. See Officers under Church.

Tennent, Rev. Gilbert, 228, 229,
237, 241.

Three Articles, The, 23.

Toleration Act, of 1708, 191, 192,
264; text of, 154; terms of, 187;
discussion of, 188-190 ; refusal of,
to Presbyterians or Congregation-
alists, 235 ; extended to dissenters
in New Haven and Milford, 250 ;
repeal of, 250, 260.

Toleration and Reform Ticket, 471.

Toleration Party, 444, 466, 471, 479,
480, 492.

Tolerationists, 444, 466, 471, 479,
480, 492.

Treadwell, Gov. John, 487.

Trinity College, 495.

" True Confession," 31.

" True Description," 31.

" True Republican," 428.

Trumbull, John, 323.

Trumbull, Gov. Jonathan, 275.

Unitarians, 340.
Universalists, 340.

Wallingford, church of, 278.

War of 1812, 444, 445, 446, 450-452,

458-461 ; proposed terms of peace,

452.
Warhain, Rev. John, 77, 106.

Watertown, church of, 55, 68, 97.

Webster, Noah, "A Rod for the
Fool's Back," 423, 435.

Webster, Rev. Samuel, 304, 306.

Wesleyan College, 495.

West, Rev. Stephen, 307.

Western Lands, 360, 361 ; bills con-
cerning, 367, 3G8-392, 393, 414.

Western Reserve, 342, 361. See also
Western Lands.

Westminster Assembly, 84.

Westminster Confession, 126.

Wethersfield, church of, 74.

Wetmore, Rev. James, 195, 315.

Wheelock, Rev. Eleazar, 241.

Wheelwright, Rev. John, 71.

White, Rev. John, of Dorchester,
England, 47.

Whitefield, Rev. George, 241, 248;
in Carolina, 226; in Boston, 227;
in Newport, 228 ; visit to Edwards,
229 ; estimate of Mr. Tennent, 237.

Whitgift, John, Archbishop, 25,
27.

Whittlesey, Rev. Samuel, 195.

Williams, Roger, 46; controversy,
69, 70.

Williams, William, 401.

Windham Herald, 428.

Windsor church, creed of, 55 ;
adopts the Half-Way Covenant,
106.

Winthrop, Gov. John, 55, 68, 71.

Winthrop, John, questions the Con-
necticut law of entail, 207-214.

Winthrop, Major Fitz-John, mission
to England, 181.

Wise, Rev. John, 332, 333, 365.

Wolcott, Alexander, 487.

Wolcott, Gov. Oliver, 464, 466, 472;
inaugural of, 472-478 ; second in-
augural, 481.

Wolcott, Gov. Roger, 275, 336.

Worship. See Services.

Wyclif, John, preachers of, 4.

" X Y Z Papers," 416.

Yale College, 495; founded, 261 ; ex-
pels the Cleavelands, 255, 257, 258,
261 ; expels David Brainerd, 256 ;
opposes the New Lights, 256 ;
church of, 280-282 ; legislature
favors, 378-380 ; honors an Epis-
copal cleTgyuiau, 405.

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Date Due